Something More
by Vyraz
Summary: When Starscream starts to become a little overly fond of his commander, shenanigans begin to occur within the Decepticon Base. Will the pair end up happily ever after, or will they continue to fight each other as they always have?
1. The Truth is Revealed!

**So this is like, my first work ever... I've always loved reading about this pairing, so I decided to try and make my own story about it! Please be nice considering I may not be as experienced as some other writers you've read works from, and any reviews, compliments or criticism, are very appreciated! Okay, have the story now :P**

Two crimson optics stared blankly at the metal walls, not really finding anything of interest. Starscream sat in his chair, twiddling two of his claws together as he yet again refused to pay attention to whatever battle plan was being explained at that moment. This by no means meant that he didn't try his hardest to reach the deception cause. No one - save maybe Megatron, of course - believed in it more than he did. It was just that from vorn after vorn of speeches, the air commander generally saw how they would go. Same old tactics, which no matter how many suggestions Starscream kindly contributed, never seemed to change, same old speech of how the deceptions were to triumph any day now, which was technically true, but...

Sighing, the second in command changed his seating position to get a little more comfortable. At least this gave him time to think about other, more important things, whether it would be how he could make his own modifications to their strategy, or how his next scientific product could be improved. Though as of recently, there seemed to be one thought that cropped up into his mind more than the others. Or one mech, so to speak...

Starscream turned his head towards the mech in question. Megatron was currently delivering his words with as much enthusiasm as possible, though after the millionth delivery most mechs thought that his voice defied the very definition of enthusiasm. Starscream was not one of those mechs. He could probably stare all day at his leader, and marvel at his bright ruby optics, whether he was being praised or scolded. It was usually the latter, but still, that never put him off from the wonderful view he always had.

And as of recently, Starscream had begun to see why everyone else had flocked towards his every word. Sure, maybe they weren't as independent, clever, or absolutely witty as the air commander was, yet they still needed someone to guide them, and Starscream doubted that he could make such buffoons have such worth as Megatron did. Then again, one thing that did always puzzle him was why his advice, brilliant as it was, would be ignored every single time, when anything from other mechs would be gladly received, or at the very least politely declined. Not once could his processor ever record a time where he had been praised with a phrase such as "good idea", or even a "well done for trying" for his input. It was always "that's a ridiculous idea", or the timeless classic "try again in another million light years". Starscream often thought of correcting his leader to the fact that light years were technically a measurement of distance rather than time, but somehow he doubted that would bode well for him either. Thinking about these things just seemed to make the air commander feel depressed, an emotion that he was more familiar with than was healthy. In an attempt to get rid of these nasty feelings, Starscream leaned his head on one of the armrests, and slowly closed his optics just so he could...

Frag.

Instead of his usual stretch of waking up in his own berth, Starscream violently shot awake like a bullet. Frantically, he rummaged around to check his internal chronometer, to see how much valuable time he'd spent snoozing. Strange... It'd only been a matter of minutes that he'd been gone. From the view straight in front of him, no one seemed to be in the room anymore. Perhaps he'd got away with it; that'd be a nice stroke of good luck for a change. Thanking Primus that no one had spotted him or tried to draw a squiggly moustache with non-washable ink on his faceplates, he slowly pushed himself out of his seat to briefly stretch out his joints, before creeping towards the door in the hopes that no one would notice him-

"Ah, Starscream! Glad you finally decided to join us." The deep voice that rumbled behind him so suddenly made the seeker jump considerably, almost misbalancing on one of his thrusters upon landing. Preventing the frightened squeal from escaping his vocaliser, he spun on one heel to find Megatron himself leaning one elbow onto his chair casually, as if he'd been waiting for him to wake up all this time. He looked forward at his leader, who although didn't sound too amused, held a playful expression on himself. Starscream however, was too clever to fall for this charade, and knew that he was only offering the air commander a false sense of security.

"So tell me, my dear second, what exactly makes you think that recharging during a meeting would be a good idea?" Megatron said, taking long strides to bring the two mechs closer together than Starscream would have really liked.

"I wasn't recharging!" Starscream snapped back, though all aggression that he'd meant to place into those words only came out as fear that currently seemed to be overriding his systems at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Oh yes, just 'resting our optics'? Was that how you put it last time?" Megatron teased, now at much too close a distance for Starscream to even see anything else behind him, despite his quick shuffles back. After a few awkward seconds of silence, his head very painfully hit the wall behind him, allowing Megatron to bend down to his height and remain mere inches away from him.

"I was... I-I was...!" The air commander stuttered, unable to pick one of the dozens of poor excuses running through his processor that could possibly save himself from punishment. Instead of arguing back with words, Megatron took one of his large servos and lightly squeezed the tip of Starscream's wing, which although not too painful, was enough to draw a high pitched squeak from the seeker.

"Everyone else seems to be able to keep awake when I'm speaking..." Megatron murmured, his red optics practically burning into his second in command's, who currently eyed the floor to avoid meeting the stare. "Surely, given how much better you seem to think of yourself than them, you should be able to do the same?" He questioned, now running two fingers along the edges of Starscream's wings, causing him to tremble in fear, as well as some other emotion he didn't quite recognise. Not like he had any time to with his leader invading his personal space like this.

"Of course... Uhh, master." He hastened to add, feeling that a little bit of flattery might grant him safety. To his surprise, Megatron stood in thought for a moment, before replying "Good." His digits still travelled around Starscream's wings for what he deemed to be an unnecessarily long amount of time, before his leader finally let go, and turned to walk in the other direction, satisfied that he'd gotten his point across.

"Shouldn't you be getting on with something useful for a change?" Megatron asked in a nonchalant sort of way. Starscream nodded despite not being able to be seen, and as swiftly as he could skidded out into the corridor, leaving only the sliding sound of the door to accompany his commander.

Although Megatron seemed to feel relatively empty headed after the discussion, Starscream currently had a whole whirl of questions inside him, strangely occurring in both his processor and his spark. On the one hand, things had gone very well for the silver seeker. He'd been able to recharge off the less than interesting speech, and hadn't received any consequences for doing so. Yet on the other hand, he felt like it had been... Different from what he had expected. Instead of the violent poking, shoving or even hitting that Megatron usually dished out to him in plentiful supply when he did something wrong, the warlord had merely stared at him, and then had the nerve to touch the flier's wings like they belonged to him. True, it hadn't really felt too bad... But still, wings were a very sensitive and private area of a seeker, and to touch them so carelessly was very disrespectful. Though Megatron was far away from a stranger, Starscream still didn't feel fully comfortable with it.

And then there was the feeling in his spark. It was unlike anything he'd ever come across before. Some part of it felt all warm and tingly, like his whole frame was full of top quality energon. And yet, another part of it felt like it was thrown to the floor and cruelly trampled on many times over. Though he had experience on psychology, since Starscream made it his mission to learn about anything and everything science, he couldn't come up with a conclusion for what he felt. There was one theory which could be the answer, but... No, it was ridiculous. Starscream was absolutely sure there was no way a calculating and determined personality like his could never feel that way for someone. Then again... Some small part of him did feel better when he thought about Megatron... And then it felt absolutely horrible knowing that he would never be complemented like he wanted to be, or even noticed in some way.

Didn't Megatron see his obvious attempts to get attention when he purposely formulated plans that would fail to overthrow him? Wasn't it clear to him that no second in command would actually try and hurt their leader? But of course, no one else was smart enough to see what he was really planning. He couldn't even talk to some mechs because they were too afraid that Starscream would go after their jobs should they say something bad about him. And the seeker himself then had to act so obnoxiously or otherwise people would figure out what he was up to. And especially with slaggers like Soundwave in the deception ranks, he really did not want to see that happen.

About to head back to his own quarters and sulk like he usually did, Starscream was suddenly interrupted when a purple blob came out of nowhere and landed directly on him, resulting in the seeker sprawling all over the floor like some stupid sparkling unable to walk, with the mysterious purple object still pinning him down. It only took a few moments for the confusion to scatter from Starscream's processor, therefore figuring out exactly what currently sat on his back.

"Skywarp..." He growled through gritted teeth, desperately squirming under the weight of his fellow trine member.

"Hiya!" An overly active seeker replied, wriggling about uncomfortably just for good measure.

"Get... *huff*... OFF!" Starscream yelled in characteristic fashion, giving a powerful kick which sent the violet seeker sprawling along the ground and rolling to thud against a metal wall. In response, the purple jet rubbed his own helm tenderly with one servo, and shot a sad look at his attacker.

"You're always so mean to me, Screamer..." Skywarp whined, beginning to pick himself up before he was hoisted to his feet by a larger, blue seeker.

"Maybe you shouldn't teleport on top of him all the time then. It does get pretty annoying, you know." The newcomer added, gently nudging his friend along with a carefree servo. Skywarp glared at him and muttered something about not being fat unlike some mechs, but decided to drop it nonetheless. Starscream gave a subtle thumbs up to the seeker behind Skywarp's back, which was gratefully received with a gentle smile. The trio hadn't been walking for long before Starscream found that he needed to fill the silence with some conversation. His trine where some of the few mechs he actually enjoyed being around, after all, besides Skywarp when he'd stayed up past his recommended recharge time set by the blue seeker.

"So, Thundercracker..." He began, "how have things been with you? Managed to keep our dear Skywarp under control?" The purple seeker made a good attempt to clip Starscream on the wing for that comment, whilst Thundercracker simply laughed it off.

"Not too much has changed, I suppose." He said in an almost monotone voice. "When you have such a well behaved roommate, things can get pretty boring."

"It's a good thing you don't have one, then!" Starscream blurted out, unable to control himself. Thundercracker had to literally hold back a feisty Skywarp from tackling the sassy seeker, whilst try not to laugh at the same time. It really wasn't an easy task. Skywarp continued to struggle until a wicked thought came to his mind, and so he acted more obediently to be out down and trusted to walk on his own two pedes.

"Speaking of how things are..." Skywarp smiled sweetly, angling his pleasure particularly towards Starscream, "how goes things with you know who? Have you finally gotten Megatron-Senpai to notice you yet?" This time it was Starscream's turn to seethe with rage, though he could at least physically restrain himself better. He tried desperately to think of some sort of comeback that would help cover his embarrassment, and to his annoyance the flier failed to find a thing. He instead ground his dentas together so hard that sparks almost flew off from his mouth.

"Give him a break, Skywarp." Thundercracker intervened, now choosing to step between the two seekers to avoid any further conflict. "A little sparkling like you probably can't imagine what our Screamer is going through right now."

"But I'm older than him!" Skywarp pouted, his stuck out tongue really not helping to support his argument.

"Maybe you should act like it then." The blue mech replied firmly, turning away from Skywarp so that none of his looks, threatening or pleading would have an effect on him. Starscream had to hand it to him, Thundercracker was just about the only mech on the entire base who was able to deal with these childish antics the third trine member seemed to possess, as well as dealing with any real sparklings (who admittedly, could still be better than Skywarp on multiple occasions). Starscream was about to celebrate when he thought the topic was finally done and dusted, when the blue seeker seemed to think it would be a good idea to bring it up again.

"But speaking of which..." The blue seeker began, curiosity replacing the apathy in his voice, "what are you really going to do? You know this can't just be ignored."

"It has been, and it will continue to be until I'm over this silly little phase." Starscream huffed, refusing to see why everyone overreacted so much. They could have their little crushes, couldn't they? Why was it so awful for the flier to have his?

"You think this is just a phase?" Thundercracker questioned, and he would generally be intrigued by whatever answer he was given. It was strange that Starscream had developed such a large attraction to one mech over such a short period of time, yet he'd never had this remotely before. If he had, the seeker had at least been able to keep it to himself. The constant nattering and dreaming he did about Megatron didn't seem to fit into this category.

"I can't think what else it could be." He replied flatly. From being around the seeker so often, both Thundercracker and Skywarp could easily tell that he was lying through his teeth. And if it wasn't temporary, then the only other possibility was...

"Well, I'll just be off then, catch you two late-"

The seeker was cut off as two servos grabbed each of his arms and hoisted him away from his oh so comfortable quarters. How he longed to be able to escape there and be left to himself. Apparently, his trine did not see that idea with the same appeal.

"Come on, Starscream. We need to go get our rations, remember?" Skywarp teased as if he were almost enjoying this. "You can't get Senpai to notice you on an empty stomach!" A sharp knee to the abdomen from Starscream was enough to bring the purple mech to his knees, who frantically cycled in air as part of a recovery.

"That really hurt!" Skywarp wailed, looking as if he felt much too sorry for himself. Instead of picking him up, Thundercracker decided to just roll the purple ball along with one of his pedes, whilst it took even more effort to drag Starscream along when he desperately clung to any wall or banister in an attempt of escape. Life was always hard for the eldest trine member.

When they eventually arrived in the mess hall, Thundercracker plonked both siblings down at the nearest table, not really in the mood to put in the extra effort for reaching their normal seats. Skywarp sat next to him, still pouting like a spoilt sparkling. Starscream on the other hand, acted incredibly unlike himself. Swirling his energon cube unenthusiastically and staring at it with blank optics. Thundercracker felt a slight pang of regret at being the cause of such sorrow for the red and white seeker, though after remembering that it was for his own good, was able to begin the 'interrogation'.

"So, Starscream..." The blue flier started, deciding to go nice and simple and see the reaction he would get, "how do feel about your, uhh, attraction?" He said, making sure not to startle Starscream with any overly sensitive topics or sudden movement. This would of course eventually be disrupted by Skywarp, who looked even more restless than useful, but it would allow Thundercracker to sneak his way into the heart of this predicament.

"It's a burden." The second in command bluntly replied.

"A burden from what?" Thundercracker said, swirling his energon round in a gesture to get him to elaborate.

"Just… everything!" The seeker groaned, folding his arms out in front of him and slamming his helm dramatically onto them. "Whenever we're even in the same room, I can't work, sleep, argue, or just…" Starscream stopped whinging, apparently changing his mind on letting his problems out. Starscream had built up a very good reputation over the vorns for being strong-willed and tenacious, and no one was going to tear that down. Not even Megatron, though he certainly seemed to be trying very hard to do so in the flier's opinion.

"TC…" Skywarp murmured, ensuring that Starscream was out of audio range whilst he spoke, "you look like you have an idea…"

"Maybe, but it's not going to be easy."

**So... How was it? And what is this brilliant plan of Thundercracker's?**


	2. First Step to Thundercracker's Scheme!

**So I managed to bust out another chapter, yay for you guys! I know everyone asks for reviews, but they would be reaaaaalllyyyyy useful, so I could make my future works better for you readers (Including this story :P). **

**Most importantly of all, enjoy reading! :D**

"Soundwave is so meeaaannn to me!" Skywarp tossed and turned on the floor, making a large ruckus in attempt to gather Thundercracker's attention. Doing his best not to be dragged into Skywarp's seemingly endless pile of problems, he continued to start at the data pad in front of him.

Recently, the blue seeker had started to take a liking towards the various customs of the humans. True, some of them weren't very suited towards robots ten times their size, but most parts were transferable. In particular, their perspective on relationships proved to be increasingly useful towards the whole 'Starscream predicament'. Whether these would work on two mechs as warped in personality as Megatron and Starscream, he didn't know. That was yet another problem in the already dire situation. For now, Thundercracker wished to take the whole thing off of his mind, even if that meant conversing with Skywarp for a little while.

"What has he done this time?" Thundercracker said, at least taking a shot at playing interested. Skywarp seemed to be too self-enveloped to notice the lack of emotion, too desperate to get his problems out to someone, which in all honesty could be anything to Soundwave stepping on his foot by accident to torturing him for hours on end. Secretly, Thundercracker preferred the second option.

"Look at all the reports he gave me!" the purple seeker yelled, shoving a data pad roughly in front of Thundercracker to view. Not really having the choice to look at anything else, the blue flier glanced at the text, before giving Skywarp a rather unimpressed look.

"Even I have more than this…" He sighed, turning away in hopes that he would hear no more of Skywarp's tales.

"WHAT?" He yelled. Well, that hope dissipated quickly. "That's illegal, isn't it? There must be some sort of law in place against overworking?" He continued, desperately flailing his arms around to illustrate his outrage. He eventually had to be restrained after almost hitting a particularly valuable computer system off of a shelf.

"It really doesn't take that long if you get down to it…" Thundercracker consoled his sibling, giving a slight pat on the back to encourage the overgrown child. Skywarp gave his trine member a confused look, contemplating what to do next. It was very probable he could get Thundercracker to do a few of these reports for him, should he proceed to beg and cry for the next few minutes. Yet Thundercracker was very rarely in a good mood like he was now, and Skywarp didn't like to disturb these rare occasions. It might not be going too far to even say he was fun to be around at these times.

"If I _somehow _manage to finish these all by myself…" The teleporter started, shaking slightly from side to side and making his optics appear as innocent as they could, "Then maybe afterwards, could we do something fun together? Pwease?" Thundercracker smiled as he replied.

"I was thinking we could get some pay back on Soundwave, if you'd be open for that?" Skywarp bounced up and down excitedly a few times, before jumping to the floor and scribbling down words the fastest Thundercracker had ever seen him do before. He let a slight smile escape at the sight of the eager flier.

Soundwave strolled around the base, not looking to do anything at this precise moment. His large pedes made a racket out of the steel flooring, echoing through halls for miles on end. A moment ago he'd been receiving repair work from Hook due to a 'lengthy discussion' between him and Megatron. Apparently, despite in his opinion being the only half capable mech in the whole base besides maybe Thundercracker, the tyrant still found lots of room for improvement within him. This time, it'd merely been his voice that had got on the commander's nerves.

"There's nothing wrong with my voice." He said to himself, just to make sure. There was no quiver, no high audio-breaking pitches (Starscream was probably jealous), and it was set at a good volume. Soundwave then decided to stay on the topic of Starscream, as he'd been acting particularly strange in the last couple of weeks. He had shied away from many a confrontation, and taken orders from him without a second thought. Whether he and Megatron would still continue to have their spats, that wasn't clear yet. What _was_ clear, was that Soundwave had started to take a significantly larger amount of Starscream's beatings for him, through no choice of his own. The blue mech would deal with that problem later, right after he-

"Soundwave!" He turned around mid-walk to find a much too excited Skywarp sprinting towards him, later followed by an also dangerously amused Thundercracker. Soundwave liked the seeker a whole lot more when he wasn't happy.

"Need to… Talk to you…" Skywarp puffed, placing servos on hips and swiftly cycling air back into his systems.

"Needs – More exercise." Soundwave replied.

"Shaddap!" Skywarp huffed, now meeting Soundwave's gaze through his visor. The mischief within those optics could not be neglected.

Thundercracker stepped in front of the tired seeker, almost protecting Soundwave from the harm that Skywarp could verbally dish out. Despite his personality being somewhat lacking, Thundercracker didn't possess the same hatred for the third in command as Skywarp seemed to.

"We would like you to discuss something with Megatron."

"Correction – Lord Megatron."

"Correction – You're a suck up" Skywarp hissed in Thundercracker's ear, earning a slight smirk from him. Nonetheless, he continued to keep a straight face.

"Yes fine, Lord Megatron. I believe you'll find everything enclosed here." Thundercracker handed over a small datapad, which Soundwave took from him cautiously and read to himself. The two seekers patiently waited, trying to observe Soundwave's facemask for any signs of a reaction. It was of course, futile in the end. After a short while, he looked up from the datapad, handing it back to Thundercracker.

"Request denied. Reason – Request likely to cause irritated reaction from Lord Megatron. Suggestion – Tell him yourselves." Thundercracker suddenly pushed the datapad back, leaning closer to Soundwave in the menacing sort of way only Starscream was capable of.

"Oh, maybe you're misunderstanding. It wasn't a request, but an _order._"

"…!?"

"You know, I was talking to this one femme earlier…" Thundercracker grinned, slowly making his was around Soundwave, "She said she recalled one particularly overcharged mech coming on to her one evening." Whilst Soundwave's face didn't show it, his frame twitched slightly at the retelling of this story. In front of him, Skywarp was still too ecstatic for his own good. Or for that matter, the good of anyone else near him, which unfortunately happened to be Soundwave himself right now.

"So I think it'd be in that mech's interest for him to be a good little boy, should he value his dignity. Don't you agree?" Without uttering a word, Soundwave snatched the datapad from the smug seeker and hastened to escape from the situation, the rose colour of his faceplates even showing through his mask a little. Whilst Thundercracker felt a little proud and allowed himself to stand tall over his victory, Skywarp was in hysterics on the floor, having taken a sneaky picture of an embarrassed Soundwave to keep all to himself.

"Well, that's that then." Thundercracker declared, wiping the last giggle off. "Now we'll just have to hope Megatron takes the advice well."

Megatron currently sat in his throne room, even more bored than usual. With a cube of energon resting in one servo, he decided to check on the daily reports for yet another time that day. The Autobots didn't appear to have anything planned as of yet. That would give him more time to sit around doing nothing. Oh yay. Soundwave had reported no lacking shifts, no outbreaks of violence (besides the ones Megatron personally enforced)…

Was everything always this boring? The silver warlord didn't remember ever being stuck with nothing to do. There was always an argument that needed sorting out, a plan that needed arranging, a mech that needed its face bashed in… And yet here he was, supposed to be satisfied, when he felt quite the opposite.

"There must be something…" He murmured to himself, shifting to rest his helm on a gargantuan fist. It was at that moment a small 'pop' from his personal computing system revealed that Starscream had sent his reports in. On time, for once.

"Maybe I am getting through to him after all, ha ha ha…" There was no one to share his joy with. Megatron didn't like sharing anyway.

After opening it, and making a quick scan through, the Decepticon commander found something very odd. Everything seemed to be in order. In all of the thousands of characters laid out before him, none of them made an attempt to insult him in anyway. It was so incredibly boring, Megatron wondered whether he'd gotten Soundwave to write it out for him. One particularly amusing report had 'Megatron is an aft' written down the far left side, using each letter starting the line to spell out the message. He hadn't even noticed until Soundwave had pointed it out (the little tattle tale), at which point he merely laughed rather than getting angry. For all the negative points the seeker had in trying to take over once every fortnight, his antics could still be rather amusing.

Starscream! Maybe that was the problem. For reasons unknown, he'd started stashing himself away within his quarters, only exiting to gather energon or attend talks of war. Maybe he'd formulated another plan to take over the Decepticon force. Megatron rarely sought out to interrupt these, as they rarely ever worked. Well, they never worked. With all the mental strength that Starscream possessed, it seemed to shrink to that of a sparklings when it came to this. Why didn't he just go and join the Autobots if he hated it here so much?

"Lord Megatron." The warlord looked up as he heard his door slip open, to reveal an unusually flustered Soundwave. Megatron raised an optic ridge at this, given that Soundwave generally refrained from showing emotion. The tyrant quickly came to the conclusion that Skywarp must have pranked him in some way. He really needed to set someone to control the seeker, Thundercracker was beginning to become a little lenient with him.

"What do you want?" He growled, preferring boredom to having to sit through a monotone drone for hours on end. Megatron flexed his claws to imply that it was in Soundwave's interests to keep whatever he had to say brief.

"Desire – Discuss leadership methods with Megatron."

"Are you saying that my leadership is not to your liking?" He growled, moments away from getting up and smacking the mech across the jaw.

"…"

"…"

"Desire – Discuss leadership metho-"

"Yes I heard that bit, you imbecile! Get on with it!" Megatron yelled, showing no restraint in letting his vocaliser reach its full volume. Soundwave gulped and took a small pause, pulling out a datapad to refresh his memory. This intrigued his leader, as his third in command never needed to refresh his memory for anything. What did he need the datapad for?

"Current methods – Utilise intimidation for achieving goals." Megatron rolled his eyes.

"I am aware of what I do." He replied sternly. Soundwave took another pause before speaking up again.

"Problem – Motivation lacking within forces."

"Tell me who they are and I'll be sure to pay them a special visit."

"Problem – Likely figure being 85.3% of base. Too large to visit individually."

"Where on Cybertron are you getting these figures?" Megatron roared, clanging two clenched servos so loudly on the desk that large dents appeared on the metallic surface. Soundwave stood unfazed, if anything becoming disinterested from having to wait in order to speak.

"Source – Google."

"Oh." Megatron stared flatly, ignoring Soundwave for the moment. That couldn't possibly be right… Could it? He was a good leader. He knew he was. His battle plans were superb if he did say so himself, he always got what he wanted from his troops. What did it matter how he did it? And besides, he only occasionally hit them, to keep them in line and on their toes. Besides, if they wanted a friend, they could confide in themselves for such useless things. Megatron certainly had no time for them, and neither did war. So what was the problem?

"Request to continue, my liege." Megatron was brought out of his train of thought to return to reality. He'd much rather ponder his own weaknesses than listen to Soundwave's complaints. But maybe, just maybe, he'd have a reasonable solution.

"Alright. Let's hear this brilliant plan of yours." Groaned Megatron, not really going into it with an open mind.

"Suggestion – try…" Soundwave stopped, looking at Megatron to check whether he was in punching range. At the moment, it seemed though he was not. That was likely to change soon.

"Try to create a more… friendly atmosphere." Soundwave cringed. The hit was going to come any minute. Damn those two seekers and their ridiculous plan. So what if it helped win the war… All Soundwave was concerned about was keeping his stable position of third in command, and certainly not becoming the personal punch bag for a psychopathic leader.

"Okay."

"What?" The monotoned mech left his usual speaking patterns out of pure shock, unable to tell what kind of trick Megatron was playing on him.

"I'm agreeing to your idea. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Megatron growled, annoyed at Soundwave's response when he was trying to be extremely optimistic for once. When this plan had crashed and burned, he could rest assured that it was merely his allies that had issues, and not the tyrant himself. Yes, and then he'd ensure Soundwave didn't try something like this again. Even better, another excuse to hit Soundwave.

"S-Suggestion – Attempt method with one mech as an experiment?" Soundwave added in, though uncertain of whether he was permitted to talk.

"Yes, yes. Very good, Soundwave." But who was he going to pick? Preferably someone higher up within the ranks, that would ensure that the effects would remain prominent for a while (Should anything good come of this – not likely). Not Soundwave of course, listening to that voice for days on end would just be awful. Skywarp? No way, too hyper active. Maybe Thundercracker, but… He could be very much like Soundwave at times, and his colour was much too bright for Megatron's optics. Starscream? No… Wait. Maybe that could work. The seeker _had _been acting awfully strange lately, so it'd be a good chance to see what he was getting up to behind the commander's back. And if things went wrong, he could always choke any disobedience out of him to revert back to their original status. Yes, Starscream would do perfectly.

"Lord Megatron – Requesting permission to leave."

"Do you need me to carry you through the door or something?" Megatron frowned.

"Sarcasm – Not friendly. Suggesti-"

"Get out, Soundwave!" Soundwave obediently left, and made a mental note to get back at the two seekers for their idiocy later. Megatron, meanwhile, smiled on his throne, clasping his hands together and grinning evilly.

"Perhaps it won't be so boring after all… Mwa ha ha."

**Dun dun DUN! What plans does Megatron have for Starscream? You'll have to tune in next time to get the full scoop!**


	3. The Worst Lie Ever Told!

**Hi, it's me again (well who else would it be). Chapters might slow down a bit, since the exam schedule is starting up again, and I really didn't pick a good time to start my first story :P I'm glad you guys are enjoying this, and if I could get my first ever review, that'd make my day 3**

**As Always, have fun reading!**

* * *

"That was fun!" Skywarp pranced along the corridors, tugging Thundercracker by the arm and whistling a small tune to himself, apparently all his care for the rest of the world having vanished. Thundercracker on the other hand, was well enveloped within his own thoughts. Although it might be technically possible to put the two crazy mechs together, there was so much that could go wrong at one time. For example, what if Megatron completely ignored Starscream from the advice within the datapad he'd been given? What if Starscream prematurely let his secret slip and all havoc broke loose? And the more daunting conclusion, what if Megatron rejected the seeker after they'd gotten closer? There was a very slight chance that their commander would actually see him in that way, though Starscream was by no means a bad mech to look at.

As the two entered the dormitory, Thundercracker merely sat on the edge of his berth, twiddling digits around rapidly to try and avert his processor from such thoughts. Surprisingly, Skywarp managed to step out of his own little word for long enough to notice this, and frowned at the sight.

"You okay, TC? You haven't drunk too much high grade again without telling me, have you?" He snickered, poking him gently on the arm. Worryingly, the blue seeker didn't reply.

"Let it all out. Psychologist Skywarp can make your troubles fly away!" Whilst the blue flier highly doubted Skywarp even knew how to spell psychologist, he supposed the purple bumbler did have good ideas sometimes. It wouldn't do any harm to tell him.

"I was just thinking… Maybe we shouldn't be doing this."

"Hmm…? Why's that?" Skywarp questioned, coming to sit on the berth next to his troubled trine member and attempted to make optic contact. Eventually, Thundercracker complied with this request, staring for a good while before he started talking again.

"Well, what if something goes wrong? Screamer's been kinda sensitive lately, he'd be in a right state if he were to be rejected. And then Megatron would become even more violent towards him, and maybe towards us, and then the whole base would blame us, and then we'd be hated, and it's possible we might-" Thundercracker was interrupted when a surprising servo clasped itself over his mouth. He made a muffled "huh?" sound in surprise.

"Stop." He just said, looking more serious than Thundercracker had ever seen. "None of that's going to happen."

"But Skywarp…"

"Even if it did, it wouldn't matter." The confused seeker stared, wondering what his fellow trine member could be thinking. As if reading his thoughts, Skywarp began to explain, swinging his legs playfully over the tall berth simultaneously.

"Look at it this way, TC. Do you remember how happy little Screamer was when he was first promoted?"

"The slagger could barely contain himself!" Thundercracker laughed, remembering what a pain in the aft Starscream had been to the both of them when he turned out to be the highest ranking of the three mechs. He made Skywarp look like an angel.

"Right? So, if we succeed in this… He'll be that happy, all the time." Skywarp used his servo to guide Thundercracker's faceplates to be in line with his. "We have no right to take that away from the guy. Besides, how could anyone not love him? He's adorable as it is, having the poor thing swoon over you would be magical!"

"I think we differ on the definition of adorable…" Thundercracker murmured, "But I guess you're right. We have to try at least." Skywarp smiled and gave him a nod in agreement.

"You know, you can be really smart sometimes, Skywarp."

"I thought I was smart all the time."

* * *

Starscream currently sat in his own quarters. Apart from the flickering monitor of his computer screen, the room was pitch black, as he'd covered up the only window to one side, and refused to turn on the light. Besides, the screen allowed him to see pretty much all around the room. The rest of the place was fairly standard too, considering he was second in command out of the thousands that took shelter within the base. A spacious berth towards one corner, an energon dispenser in the other, and a small amount of scientific equipment arranged neatly on a nearby table. He did most of his experiments elsewhere, of course, but it was nice to have something here should he get bored or suddenly find an idea pop into his processor.

Currently, he had no ideas. What he had been doing, was looking for answers to his 'problem', worded in various different ways. Some of these searches included "How not to think about things" and "Why don't I hate him", but nothing that came up related to what he wanted. Why was this stupid thing trying to trick him? What did it want him to say?

Starscream took a deep breath, deleted his text, and started again, typing excruciatingly slowly. He began with "Why do I", and then paused. Putting in the next word would really be taking a large step forward. He wasn't sure if that step was even in the right direction. How did he feel about Megatron? It was more than respect, for sure. He respected Soundwave (very slightly) for his ability to hold in his emotions where Starscream lacked this ability, but that certainly wasn't similar. Was it friendship? Maybe not, Thundercracker and Skywarp where his friends even if they were his trine too, and he _still _wasn't that fond of them.

So what did he want from Megatron?

He wanted… He wanted to hold his hand. And, he wanted to hug him, and talk about everything, and watch those stupid goofy human movies that Starscream had a secret liking for with him. All of those mushy, horrible Autobot things that he shouldn't have been able to feel, he wanted to do more than anything else in the world.

"Fine…" He sighed, having lost yet another mental battle with himself, "I'll admit it." Slowly, and with great force, he bashed the letters with one of his digits. L, O, V and E. He shuddered at the mere sight of the word, but he'd have to get used to it. Once he was able to isolate the problem, he'd be able to tear at the roots and make it disappear. Then he could return to his happy self. Well, not exactly happy, but happier than he was now.

Satisfied with the question laid out in front of him, he punched in the enter key. Just as he was about to look at one of the results, there came a knock on his door.

"Go away, Skywarp." The seeker said with anger, a little annoyed that he wanted to cause even more trouble for him. There was no second knock, so Starscream could now proceed to-

There was another knock. Strange, usually Skywarp would either get the hint or have teleported right on top of him.

"Okay" Starscream moaned with rolling optics, "Just say what it is you want to sayyYYyYyyy…" Starscream had opened the door to find a very _unexpected _mech appear at his doorstep.

"Meh-Megatron!" He stammered, slightly startled to have the larger frame of his leader looming over him so suddenly.

"Why hello there, Starscream." He smiled. "Mind if I come in?"

"Uhh, not at all, of course!" The seeker replied, still utterly confused, and admittedly a little scared as to why the tyrant was grinning at him, and acting almost… nice. Starscream watched him calmly stroll about the room, occasionally pausing and bending over to examine something within the room. The Decepticon leader genuinely seemed fascinated by anything he came across, as if he'd been living on a whole other planet. With the privileges that he entitled himself to, that wasn't at all far from the truth.

What on earth was _he _doing here? Megatron had never so much as paid attention to the seeker, and suddenly he had gone out of his own way to visit him? It didn't make any sense. Unless… Did he know? Impossible, even Skywarp would know his life would come to an end should he give away something like this. But there had to be some reason he'd come down here.

"How are you feeling, Starscream?" His leader asked, still not turning around to talk to him. What kind of a question was that? The seeker wasn't sure what the correct answer was. He took a guess.

"Great."

"Oh, is that so?" this time Megatron did turn his head to look at Starscream's optics, which resulted in a nervous shuffle from the flier.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He snapped back.

"You've been acting awfully strange as of late." The tyrant replied, beginning to take a few steps forward, though Starscream made sure they were a safe distance apart.

"Have not!"

"I think you have", the commander insisted. "I haven't heard a peep from you in these past few weeks, and you're the loudest mech I've ever met. Don't you think those two facts contradict each other?"

"Maybe you've just gotten so old you're turning deaf." The instant after he spoke, Starscream clamped his servos over his own mouth in the slight chance that Megatron hadn't heard him.

The good news – Megatron had indeed not heard what he'd said.

The bad news - he was now observing Starscream's computer screen, which if he recalled correctly had a very private situation on it…

The seeker lunged in front of Megatron's point of view, flicking the off switch and praying that he had been in time. The sly grin that appeared on his faceplates told him that no, he had not been on time.

"Oh… So this is the problem" he snorted, barely able to keep laughter from his insides bursting out and escaping.

"What's so funny?" Starscream yelled, all his previous nausea now transforming into energon curdling rage.

"Nothing, nothing!" The silver mech smirked, clearly not a good liar. Starscream was torn between feeling angry and scared. He currently had a mix of both, though fear triumphed when the commander just _had _go and press himself obnoxiously far into the seeker.

"So, who's the unlucky mech?" he teased, prodding Starscream in the face plates with one of his digits. To amuse him further, the flier's face lit up like a firework, half because of his embarrassment, yet also because he rarely got the chance to be so close to Megatron. It took a great deal of restraint on his part not to lean into chest, at least just a little.

"What makes them so unlucky if I like them?" Starscream murmured, opting to shrink back into himself. The two just stared at each other for a moment, all the while Starscream contemplated his options. First option – Tell the truth. Either Megatron wouldn't believe him, or would get very, _very _angry. Second option – Don't say anything. But then he might look into it further, and eventually end up asking one of his trine… Third option – lie. He'd have to, but to make it believable yet not believable eventually.

"It's… Soundwave." He whispered.

"**Soundwave!?**"

"Shh, not so loud!" He hissed, snapping his head towards the door should someone be eavesdropping. Starscream half wished there were, at least he'd be able to get out of here. This had _not _been a pleasant visit.

"Really now? I didn't think he'd be your type!" The Decepticon leader did nothing short of giggle like a school girl with the new information he'd obtained.

"**GET OUT!**" Starscream lived up to his name and produced an audio shattering sound, which sent Megatron scurrying out of his quarters, not without making one last remark though.

"I'll say hi to Soundwave for you!" He chuckled, walking out with some more than useful information. Maybe being friendly wasn't such an awful thing after all, if he stood to gain something like this every time. Starscream smashed his helm on the desk twenty three times out of frustration before passing out.

* * *

"Okay, let's just get this straight a second." After a less than fortunate experience, Starscream had eventually alerted his trine to what had happened a few hours ago, after he'd found the will to live again. They sat in a neglected lounge room somewhere off to the south of the base, Starscream curled up on one of the chairs with Skywarp and Thundercracker sitting opposite. Partially due to Starscream's mouth being propped up against his arms, the blue seeker hadn't been sure of whether he'd heard the correct story. Also, it was pretty ridiculous in its own right.

"So Megatron came and gave you a surprise visit, which made you uncomfortable. It happened to be just at that time you were looking into your attraction, so he partially knew your secret. And somehow, you ended up getting him to think that you loved Soundwave?"

"Hey!... It's not as bad as it seems."

"Do you want me to tell you how it seems?" Thundercracker sighed, "It seems as though you managed to convince the one person you actually like that you're in love with someone else in a matter of minutes!" Starscream wriggled in his seat a little, trying not to meet his trine's gaze. A light tug on the arm from Skywarp told him he might need to consider taking a different approach. He sighed once more, before leaning over and gently moving one of Starscream's now limp arms so that they could make optic contact.

"You know, even Skywarp wouldn't muck up this bad." The blue seeker joked softly. Starscream allowed himself to smile a little, albeit at Skywarp's expense. For the good of the love smitten seeker, the teleporter ignored this blow to the ego.

"Don't worry Screamer, me and good ol' TC here will fix you guys up if it's the last thing we do! Which it might be, depending on whether Megatron catches us in the act… But that makes it more exciting, don't'cha think?" Exclaimed Skywarp, shortly afterwards receiving a short smack from Thundercracker.

"Calm down a little, will you? We've still got a way to go, in case you hadn't noticed." Thundercracker reminded him.

"Sorry, but it's hard not to get excited, you know? Those two would be cute together, right TC?" Feeling embarrassment wash over him, the air commander hid his face plates like a timid sparkling, whilst 'TC' merely laughed it off.

"If you say so. Regardless, we'd better get started on fixing this mess. You'll be ready for the next step, won't you Skywarp?"

"I was born ready"

"Wait!" Starscream interjected as they started to walk out the room, "What should I do?"

Skywarp smiled to himself and said "Try to keep your hands off of Soundwave for a few hours".

**How will Soundwave react to this new development? And what could possibly save Starscream and Megatron's relationship that the two seekers are planning? Hmm, you'll eventually find out :)**


	4. Shot out of Nowhere!

**Sorry this one took a little longer than the others, but exams are still a thing (unfortunately). On a brighter note, my first ever reviews! 3 Thanks a bunch you guys, it's nice to know you're enjoying the story so far! I don't know how many chapters this'll end up having, but you can be sure it'll continue for the foreseeable future.**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think as always!**

* * *

"Right, so… Got another trick up your sleeve, TC? We're gonna need something pretty spectacular to fix this." Skywarp and Thundercracker sat in the same lounge room as they now regularly used, due to a bedridden Starscream hogging their own quarters almost full time, and both seekers barely had the heart to look the poor thing in the optics anymore, and so left him to his own devices. In fact, the problem had gotten _worse _than when it started, as Starscream now needed to be practically force fed for energon to make its way into his systems. He refused to exit unless the air commander's life directly depended on it, in the slight chance that he might come across 'him'. It was pretty obvious who that was.

"What are we supposed to do? Even if I had something, there's no way Starscream would agree to it, let alone listen. Have you seen the guy? He's like a sparkling, except without the cuteness." Thundercracker laid his helm into his servos, rocking side to side a little as he let out a deep groan.

"We can't give up yet!" His other trine member exclaimed, "We don't even know how Megatron feels, there's still hope!"

"You think he would have miraculously fallen head over heels for Starscream after he'd just been informed that he was supposedly informed that said seeker loves Soundwave?" The blue mech shot back, drawing out a small whine from Skywarp.

"I wasn't going that far…" Skywarp muttered, now having his own doubts about the whole thing.

"Well, we'd better head off. Apparently we're making another raid on an Autobot outpost today."

"Is Screamer coming?" that question was answered for Skywarp as the seeker himself peeped through the doorway in a shy manner than almost disgusted the rest of his trine, before pulling up to a comfortable distance behind them. Skywarp tried slowing down to walk with him, though Starscream simply slowed down by the same amount without having to even look up, which resulted in all three seekers spacing apart. They felt like that, too.

* * *

When they arrived in the main control room, the seekers discovered that mostly everyone had already arrived. Various faces made note of their arrival, either giving a nod of approval or stepping back a few paces for their own safety. Starscream was eventually forced in between his two trine members, Thundercracker resting an arm uneasily on his shoulder. Whilst he made no effort to remove it, Starscream didn't exactly welcome the touch.

And then there was another unwelcoming sight.

Sitting where Starscream would have normally sat, Blitzwing had spread himself around in a luxurious manner, not noticing the three fliers until they all stood at arm's length. At which point, the whole room had practically fallen silent, save a few coughs in the background. As if on cue, the relaxed mech noticed this change in atmosphere, waking from his daydream to find three pairs of optics stare at him, as well as a good deal more scattered around the place.

"Ah, sorry, didn't see ya there!" He said, though it was difficult to tell which persona he was under this time. "I'll just get out of your way here…" He mumbled, trying to escape any high pitched wails, before a servo gently pushed him back down. Surprised, the mech looked up to meet Starscream's gaze, though he had currently turned away to stare at nothing in particular.

"No, that's quite alright." He murmured, encouraging a few gasps out of the crowd present. "I'm not a sparkling, so I can stand just fine." And then, for what could well have been the first time in his whole life, the seeker smiled. Not out of sadistic pleasure, or any self-confidence, but just smiled with genuine happiness. Blitzwing as well as the two seekers felt like they should say something as Starscream walked away to mingle with the crowd, but couldn't. All their vocalisers had been simultaneously locked in an icy grip, as well as their optics locking onto the seeker like a hawk studying its prey.

Megatron entered the room with a louder than needed display, the door almost swinging off of its hinges as it slammed against the adjacent wall. His expression remained blank as he sauntered towards the front, though he smirked inwardly at the path cleared for him by his underlings. The tyrant had always liked attention. The way some of them cowered in fear at his mere presence, the gladiator couldn't have asked for anything more wonderful than that feeling.

Once standing before all his subjects, he glanced briefly to his right and left. Soundwave was there of course, not showing anything of interest… as usual. And then, he noticed that a certain betraying seeker was missing to the other side. Not bothering to check who had replaced him, the warlord's optics briefly scanned the crowd, eventually finding Starscream at the front, looking incredibly unsure of something.

"Maybe he can't stand being near Soundwave… hm hm hm." Megatron thought smugly to himself. Well, he would probe further into that later. He had things to do at that moment that required his immediate attention.

"I believe that everyone here has been briefed on their role in this operation" the commander bellowed, his glare washing over each and every one of the mechs stood before him as he continued, "I trust that no one has been so stupid to forget?" He received no response, besides the sound of Thundercracker struggling to keep Skywarp's arm shooting up as a 'harmless practical joke'. Thundercracker vowed he would one day put the 'harm' into that joke to teach the troublemaker a lesson.

"And… That there are no complaints?" A few whispers emerged from scattered locations, though they particularly centred around Starscream. He was the one who always stood up for everyone else, always had an opinion to voice, an insult to inflict the Decepticon leader with. Patiently, the soldiers waited. And they waited more. A few mechs even tried to push Starscream forward to gain some sort of response, thinking that he'd merely dosed off instead of choosing to stay quiet. The seeker only stood his ground at the pressure applied to him, not paying it any mental notice. Megatron too had been staring at his air commander for some time, not exactly knowing what the flier was playing at. He squinted his optics to gain any clues that might prove useful, but he found nothing. Just a sullen seeker, trundling on the spot, ignoring the physical pokes and prods at this frame. He should've been happy that no one objected to his thinking, but for some reason… Megatron couldn't help but feel a little empty at this lack of reaction. It just felt a little weird. He almost missed the high screeched of outrage that could always throw off his whole processor from the sheer force of its pitch and volume. Oh well, the commander would have to do without it today.

"If that's the case, what are you idiots all waiting for? Let's go already!"

* * *

Starscream through flew the air with a majestic style replicated by no other flier in the whole galaxy. How he adored the feeling of wind brush past his plating with breath-taking speed, sliding so easily along and feeling so cool to the touch. If only for a short while, it always allowed him to forget any problems clotting in his mind and move without a care in the world.

He'd finished his task easily, of course. All he'd been ordered to do was take care of any ground troops firing at the rest of the fliers. It was ridiculously easy for the air commander, given how the Autobots really needed to look up the term stealth, as well as get their optics checked from how they were shooting. Wasn't he the best flier within all the Decepticon ranks? Why did the Megatron give him such a simple task when he knew that the seeker was capable of so much more? Probably to avoid giving him credit for any real accomplishments, of course.

Starscream eventually got bored of just randomly flying, and since no one looked to be in need of help (why would they against such pitiful excuses for soldiers), he decided to go and spectate some of the other battles. Maybe he'd get to shoot some more stuff, if he was lucky. He gracefully transformed back to his original form and landed without so much as a stumble. Various shots streamed past in the background, though none of them flew close to the air commander.

As it turned out, he was in luck. Not too far away, he could spot Megatron and Optimus fighting, hand to hand combat of course. Neither of them would stoop so low to use weapons against each other, Megatron for his pride and Optimus due to his honour. Neither of those reasons Starscream could comprehend. Who cared about those things when you could change the result of a battle, maybe a war even.

Despite this, the seeker moved closer to spectate. It wasn't everyday he got to see the two powerful mechs fight amongst themselves free of all distractions. Starscream could only stand in awe, thoroughly impressed by the strength displayed by the two leaders. In some small part of his mind, he'd take those abilities any day over his flying, though he'd never admit it to anyone.

And then, a glint of something distracted him, hidden by a not too far away rock. Could it have been…

Megatron threw punch after punch, most of them missing, though one that did catch the Autobot leader in the chest sent him flying back a few metres to land back on his pedes. It created a more than noticeable dent in his armour, and Optimus grimaced at this new development. Neither leader wavered for a moment, always eager to throw the next hit. It was surprising yet amusing to the Decepticon leader when Prime began to stagger on the spot, struggling to keep a strong footing after one particularly damaging kick to the shin.

"What, done already?" The silver mech taunted, walking towards his opponent with a menacing smile planted firmly on his faceplates. "Maybe it was a little too much to expect an autobrat to be a worthy opponent."

And then something surprised the tyrant. Optimus seemed to be smiling.

"…What?"

And then the shot flew out of nowhere, hurtling towards Megatron at a pace that shouldn't have even been possible to reach. Megatron muttered some curses that shouldn't have been known by adult mechs, let alone sparklings, and prepared himself for the inevitable blow.

He felt the impact, but none of the pain. He glanced at Optimus, who gave him an astonished look, mouth agape, and he then fixed his stare on where the wound was. Megatron slowly placed a servo down to his stomach, drawing out a thick puddle of energon. It looked different to his own though. And then he averted his gaze downwards, to find a limp, bleeding figure at his feet.

Starscream.

* * *

Starscream slept. Well, if you could call it that. He wasn't conscious, merely just lulling in the empty blackness he was all too familiar with. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, just left to his own self-conscious. The seeker experienced this often, as we was always injured in some way, sent into the bleak abyss of his own mind.

He hated it here. He wanted company. Despite the way the air commander acted, he actually _liked _the company of other mechs over solitude. True, they weren't as smart, and a lot of them had their own annoying traits, but… They were interesting enough to keep Starscream entertained. The one thing he loved about them was that unlike any chemical reaction or calculated fight, they couldn't be predicted. What they wanted, what they thought about, Starscream hadn't yet conducted a single formula to determine answers to those questions.

As he felt his consciousness slowly return to him, the flier also felt pain to the right side of his chassis. Great. Maybe Megatron had decided to use him for target practice. Hook was normally the one to perform the repairs, but… The touch of tools felt to gentle to be his work. There was no ridiculously blinding light glaring down from the ceiling either, similar to the repair berth that was practically reserved for the aftermath of Megatron's wrath. Then where exactly was he?

Ignoring the pain in his chassis, the seeker tried pushing himself up from the berth, only to be startled by a large servo pushing him back down.

"Don't do that." It mumbled, surprisingly close to Starscream's helm. He recognised the voice, but the pain in his chest wouldn't let him think straight, and so he couldn't pin point exactly who it was repairing him.

"You need to get some recharge." It came again, powerful yet calm in its own way. Curiosity really overtaking him, Starscream managed to open his optics for long enough to recognise the helm looking down at his frame.

"W-What are you…" He stammered, not able to form a proper sentence under his confusion.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Megatron smirked down at him, poking near his optics with something Starscream couldn't recognise with such blurred vision. It was still annoying though.

"Stop that…" The seeker mumbled, not even having the strength to push it away. Though he laughed at the seeker, Megatron obliged, and carried on addressing his injuries. Starscream now had even _more _questions arising in his already hurting processor. Fortunately, the commander began to address these questions for him as though he were peering into his thoughts like the oh so nosy third in command.

"You were shot by one of the autobots." Megatron said, still working away whilst he was explaining. "Well, I was the one they were trying to hit, you somehow got yourself injured" he continued, trying to hide a scoff with a free servo, which should Starscream not have been so sleepy, he would have picked up on in an instant. What he did pick up on though, was what happened what he could only imagine was a few hours ago. He was watching the two faction leaders fight (Megatron winning, of course), and then some sneaky Autobot had fired a shot from miles away. Before he'd even realised what was going on, Starscream had somehow ended up in front of his leader, right where the shot was headed for.

"It was certainly… Interesting, to say the least." The tyrant mumbled, ceasing all movements around Starscream's injuries. "I didn't think loyalty was something you possessed." Starscream didn't know what to reply. Though there was mockery clearly present within that sentence, it also sounded kind of like… a compliment. The seeker wasn't experienced with receiving such things, and therefore didn't know how to respond at all. He almost panicked as the silence continued to loom over the two mechs.

"Why are you repairing me instead of Hook?" He asked. There was a short pause before Megatron answered.

"Do you want Hook repairing you?"

"Not really." Starscream replied. It didn't take much thought to answer.

"Well, that's why then. Besides…" Megatron began, now continuing his repairs on the seeker, "I'm not such an incompetent leader that I can't even take care of my own second in command." Starscream felt a little embarrassed at having to be taken care of, but also a little happy that Megatron considered him worth his time.

"Now, I think it's time you got back to recharge" The Decepticon leader teased, poking him again in the same spot.

"I'm not a sparkling!" Starscream hissed, ignoring the fact that his systems were practically begging him for rest. He absolutely _hated _being treated like a child, and Megatron always seemed to do so for no reason.

"Need a blanket?" The commander smiled, amusement all over his faceplates. Instead of sticking out his glossa to really not support his point, the seeker ignored the taunt, giving into recharge after a moment's silence.

Megatron allowed himself to look at his air commander before getting back to work. The small fluttering of wings, gentle clenching and unclenching of servos, slight blinking of optics… Considering how much a fuss he was when online, it was hard to consider that the seeker could ever be so calm. Even harder to believe, the very same treacherous mech had willingly laid his own life on the line for him. Starscream, the one who had a multiple plans each and every day to overthrow Megatron, had done this for him. He briefly checked that Starscream wasn't pretending to be awake, before letting out a sigh.

"Thanks." He muttered quietly to himself, just in case someone else was watching. Adding the final touches to his frame, Megatron got up and allowed himself to leave the seeker in peace.

"I still didn't ask for your help." He added to reassure himself.

* * *

**Aww, little Starscream needs his recharge! Next time, Thundercracker's got another ingenious idea from the humans! **


	5. Feeling Festive!

**A/N: So I learnt A/N stands for author's note, neat! I also learnt that slacking off writing for school is bad, and it shan't be done again (Seeing how exams are over, and all). I promise I will upload more often now, plz don't hate me! Beg?**

* * *

Skywarp sat in deep thought. This was a feat in itself, since Skywarp didn't often think about things, but in this case, Thundercracker was practically forcing him to. The two seekers had way too much time on their hands since Megatron was particularly stumped on something (therefore refusing to make any plans concerning the Autobots), and so Thundercracker had suggested that the two of them play a human game to pass the time. Chess eventually won the vote, and through time the purple flier became increasingly paranoid that his opponent had snuck in some practice beforehand, because Skywarp never lost at games. _Never. _And yet, his aft was currently being handed to him on a silver platter.

"Let's see here…" Skywarp murmured, his servo hovering over multiple different pieces in indecision. Unlike Thundercracker, who opted so sit legs crossed and upright, the purple mech lay flat on his chassis, legs swinging to and fro above him.

"I'll move my horsey to D6!" He suddenly exclaimed, picking up the black object and using it to smash a white piece across the room and into a berth. He giggled in excitement in the noise that he'd created.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." The eldest flier moaned, picking himself up and hauling his pedes over to the berth for the fourth time that game, retrieving the miniscule item.

"And it's called a knight, not a horsey." He continued, not even bothering to reprimand Skywarp as he sat back down. He wouldn't learn from it anyway.

"Oh, you're playing chess again? Managed to win yet, Skywarp?" Both seekers turned to see Starscream make his way towards the pair, sitting down on the floor in front of the board and beginning to inspect the field. He wasn't exactly _brimming _with confidence, but the flier could at least talk to other mechs now, a huge improvement in behaviour since what Skywarp called his "Teenage hormones acting up". Of course, Starscream wouldn't be Starscream without mocking sarcasm in every other sentence.

"Nope, but this'll be the game! I can just feel it, you know?" Skywarp looked hopefully into the young flier's optics, only to find an overpowering sense of doubt within them. The red optics then switched to scan the board for a moment.

"Whose turn is it?" He asked, glance unmoving.

"TC's."

"Yeah, you lost this one pal." Starscream smiled, patting the now outraged purple mech on the head.

"Checkmate!" Thundercracker declared, for once choosing to dramatically knock the pieces over. Skywarp howled in disappointment, smashing his helm against the floor repeatedly until his trine came to the rescue.

"Cheer up buddy; you'll get the next one." Thundercracker grinned, actually willing to let himself lose for the sake of the idiot. Skywarp gave his most convincing puppy dog look, motioning to the board to play again.

"Maybe you'd want to play against Screamer this time?"

"Oh, as if that'd be an easier game to win!" Starscream scoffed, a little annoyed yet amused at the suggestion. As Skywarp was about to insert his own snide comment, he held up a servo to silence the other bickering seekers as he received a comm from someone.

"Who dares call me!?" He yelled into the room, filling the awkward silence with mere awkward noise.

"Huh? They hung up on me for some reason…" The purple flier frowned, unaware that Thundercracker was currently receiving a call of his own.

"Hey, who is thi-"

"That damn seeker of yours needs to be punished!" He heard an enraged tyrant snarl into his audios. The blue seeker jumped slightly at the sudden loud noise, though he was quick to regain his cool.

"Although he isn't _my _seeker, I'll gladly let you do whatever you want with him should you be able to catch Skywarp." That answer was not dignified with a real response, only a snort of frustration. Unknowingly, the rest of his trine were gathered behind Thundercracker's back, peering in as close as they dared to try and find out who was on the other side. Somehow, Starscream had ended up sitting on Skywarp's helm.

It took a lot of waiting before the conversation moved on.

"I have a predicament." Whilst Megatron waited on the other side, Thundercracker carefully thought through the various outcomes of this call, which wasn't too easy when you had four servos pawing at your face plates, begging for attention. Either he was calling merely to have someone to complain to, which the blue flier could deal with but still wouldn't _like _to, or even worse, _he _would be expected to help. Whichever one of the two it was, the smart thing to do would be to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, maybe I should get Soundwave for you-"

"If I _wanted _Soundwave, I would have _gotten _Soundwave!" The tyrant seethed, clearly his ludicrously short fuse already lit. Thundercracker inwardly flinched at the malice of his tone.

"For some preposterous reason, the Autobots insisted on a little ceasefire between our two sides." Megatron did not sound particularly happy at the lack of violence that would occur as a result of this. Then again, he never sounded happy anyway.

"And why would that be, my lord?"

"Apparently, nearly terminating Starscream instead of me made them feel guilty. Can you believe it? Guilt over hurting their own enemies! What a bizarre bunch of mechs they are, considering such mushy feelings in the middle of a war." Thundercracker chose to ignore that statement.

"And is this your predicament?" The blue seeker asked hopefully.

"No, of course not! Such a simple thing wouldn't faze me, the great and all powerful Megatron!" Megatron waited for confirmation that Thundercracker knew exactly how great he was. None was given. For all the annoying traits that the seeker didn't have, the Decepticon commander found himself hating the flier's self-confidence. Of course, Megatron was the only one allowed to think himself the best – because he was.

"My predicament is that I need something to distract the many idiots that somehow got appointed here before we can fight again. Since I am not willing to associate with other mechs", the commander spat, "I have decided that you will come up with a suitable occasion."

"Okay, will do."

…There was a long pause.

"Wait, do you mean right now?"

"I have things to do, you know." Megatron growled dangerously, rolling his optics. Meanwhile, Thundercracker nervously racked his processor for anything that he could use. The result of not finding anything would not be so pretty. The seeker shot a pleading look at his trine, and whilst Skywarp was uselessly taking a nap, Starscream came to save the day, mouthing the word "human". Of course, he'd get plenty of ideas from them!

"Well actually, I do have something in mind."

"I'm listening."

"Well", Thundercracker began rather excitedly, "There's a human custom in which-"

"No longer listening." The blue seeker sighed at his leader's closed mind before continuing,

"Would you hear me out at least?" The commander thought for a brief moment before grunting in approval. Thundercracker gave a small sigh of relief at this.

"As I was saying, at some point during the winter, they have a small festival of sorts which they refer to as Christmas."

"Stupid name." Megatron interjected.

"Be that as it may", the seeker ploughed onwards, secretly fond of the name himself, "It would be likely to qualm any disruptions in the near future."

"And what ridiculing antics will I be expected to partake in this time?" Megatron inquired, still feeling a little hesitant towards the whole thing. So far, no benefit of his had even been hinted at. A prime reason to shut down this idea.

"Well, generally it involves people giving things to others such as family and friends in the form of presents."

"And I would be inclined to receive some of these 'presents', correct?" a now more interested silver mech asked.

"Technically, yes, but it'd be nice if you gave things to others as well…"

"But that part is optional, right?" Thundercracker exhaled in disappointment at how he knew exactly how much Megatron would be willing to give. And how much he'd be willing to take from others, too. At least he'd finally appreciate the seeker's suggestion.

"Yes, that bit is optional." A smile invaded Megatron's faceplates, as he almost felt… excited. Whatever it was that he was experiencing, it felt pretty good.

"Excellent, then it's settled. We'll have our own… winter present thing. I trust you can set it all up and inform everyone about this?"

"Wait I can't just-"And the comm link cut off. After contemplating for a short while why on Cybertron he still answered to Megatron, Thundercracker turned to see two very expectant pairs of optics gazing up at him.

"I heard presents." Skywarp said.

"Was that Megatron calling you? Did he say anything about me?" Starscream chimed in. Not feeling like answering either seeker, Thundercracker left the room. Megatron had given him enough work to act as an excuse for today.

* * *

In human time, Thundercracker reckoned it was around the 23rd of December by now. The flier would like to have thought that time had gone past quickly for him, but it hadn't. The main reason for this was that other mechs were not him, and would therefore do things differently from him. i.e., the wrong way. It took enough effort to actually shut some of them up and confine them within their rooms, let alone get any other Decepticons to assist him.

But of course, the seeker was most grateful for Soundwave constantly following him, giving various 'pointers', and repeatedly underlining the flaws in his idea.

"Likely energon consumption: too high to maintain for a suitable degree of time." The mech informed Thundercracker, who had already heard this twice in the last hour. Instead of dignifying that fact with a response, the flier gave an irritated grunt.

"Materials needed: Largely expensive" Soundwave thoughtfully added.

"Maybe you should ask Megatron to increase your allowance to pay for them then" Thundercracker snorted back at him. Soundwave's visor glinted as though he had gotten another idea.

"Megatron: not likely to be happy with idea."

"He's the reason I have to organise all of this mess, idiot." Soundwave paused as if he were questioning the validity of that idea. Although wanting to remain apathetic, the seeker stopped mid-walk to observe these thoughts. Without any warning, Soundwave brushed past a now baffled Thundercracker, snatching away a datapad he'd just been holding.

"Soundwave – take care of preparations. Thundercracker – Leave." Thundercracker gave him an inquisitive look, wondering if this was a serious suggestion, or a joke. He then remembered that Soundwave was probably incapable of making jokes, even if he wanted to. He had tried once to make one in Megatron's presence… It hadn't ended prettily.

"Are you sure you can take care of everything?" Soundwave gestured towards the datapad as if to say 'I can read, by the way', and left. The blue seeker stared after him for a little, though was in no way going to question his decision.

"Maybe he isn't so useless after all." And yet now, Thundercracker was left with quite the opposite problem. Instead of being overloaded with dreary tasks and orders, he had absolutely nothing to do. The flier briefly contemplated his options for the rest of the day. Around 99 percent of mechs hated visitors, so that pretty much ruled out a lot of the base. Hook tended to berate anyone who came in uninvited, which in all fairness was Skywarp's fault for teleporting in and out during major surgeries. However, being the trinemate of said seeker did not increase his popularity. Besides, Soundwave would have most likely gathered everyone and have them do his bidding. Thundercracker supposed he could at least get a wink of recharge before some other shenanigan demanded his attention.

He opened the door not expecting anyone to be within the shared dormitory, but he was greeted by something else. Two unusually docile red optics stared from a few metres away, shimmering slightly in the light cast upon them. Thundercracker asked Starscream how he was doing, but only got a weak smile as a response.

"Sorry, I thought you'd be out for a little longer." The seeker replied, already too engrossed in his work to look up. From the looks of it, he was working on some sort of weapon, though Thundercracker only ever had a simple grasp on Starscream's creations. Despite being young, everyone, supposedly even Megatron acknowledged his grasp for science. Unfortunately, it sometimes went to waste due to his other joint responsibilities as both Air Commander and Second in Command over the entire force.

"What's that you're working on there?" Thundercracker asked, making himself comfortable on the berth adjacent to the air commander's desk.

"Fusion Cannon." Said Starscream, not explaining any further as if everything else should already be apparent to Thundercracker. Since it wasn't, the blue seeker shuffled over to take a closer look, and frowned at a giant (literally) flaw in Starscream's design.

"Isn't it a little big? I mean, it covers the whole length of your arm!" Starscream muttered something under his breath.

"What?"

"It's… not for me." He whispered hesitantly, not opting to look at Thundercracker despite how close the two seekers were.

"Then who…" A sudden thought jolted the blue flier's processor. "Really? I mean, I know you like him Star, but something like this isn't necessary!"

"I know, but…" Starscream looked away shyly in a nature so far out of character it was hard to believe the movements had come from his frame. "I mean, he'll expect something from me at least with this new event you're planning."

"Even so, I don't think a weapon of _all _things was the smartest idea." Thundercracker joked softly, poking a no longer concentrating Starscream in the side of the helm.

"I thought about that too, so I modified the design a little. I should be impervious to all of its firepower; though I can't say the same thing should he choose to use it as a baseball bat." The seeker grinned. Thundercracker wanted to tell him that violence wasn't something he should be joking about at all, yet he didn't have the heart to do so. A smile from him was rare enough, and so the eldest trine member gladly returned it with one of his own.

"There, finished!" As he carefully laid the gun down, Starscream smiled with satisfaction. He then promptly slumped on the floor, not bothering to move any further to find a place worthy of recharge. Thundercracker watched him with curious optics, glance unwavering. It amazed him how Starscream could work so tirelessly, be so contempt with serving someone who constantly berated and abused him for a living. And to develop feelings for said mech on top of that… It just boggled Thundercracker's mind to the point of annoyance. He had to ask. Even if it was embarrassing.

"Hey, Starscream… Still awake there, buddy?" the seeker gave a high pitched whine that roughly translated to 'yes', as he buried his helm further into the floor.

"Why do you… I mean…" Dang, it was harder to ask than Thundercracker had expected. The fact that the seeker in question was now staring right through him made it even harder, causing the blue flier to shift away with nervousness.

"If I knew, I'd be sure to tell you." Starscream replied, as if able to read what Thundercracker wanted to ask. He didn't go on to say any more though, merely curling up into a tighter ball and trying to forget the whole topic.

"Will you ever tell him?"

There was silence.

"Okay, go to sleep, you crazy seek-" The blue seeker sighed as he was interrupted by the sound of light snoring. Carefully, Thundercracker snaked two arms under the young mech, lifting him gently onto a berth. Once satisfied that Starscream was safe and sound, he began to start recharge himself. Strangely, he felt ever so slightly excited as for what was to happen the next day.

It was Christmas, after all.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, not toooooooo much happened I guess. Was just trying to get back into the mood to write, if I'm quite honest. The shenanigans shall proceed next time (hopefully soon)!**


	6. A Confusing Christmas!

**A/N: Again, I am late. Again, I am sorry! But you know when you're watching an anime, and you just can't put it down to get writing? It happened...**

**But yeah, review and all that good stuff, I'm always open to advice, or if you want to tell me you enjoyed it, that's totally cool. On with the show!**

* * *

Morning had risen. Thundercracker rose more than uncomfortably after an ecstatic purple blob jumped on his pedes for the tenth time, begging him to wake up. Tilting his head to one side, the seeker glanced down at Starscream, who by the sounds of his moaning had been woken up using a similar method.

"Come on, you guuuyyyyysssss! How can you be asleep at a time like this?" He wailed in an over-dramatic fashion, pulling Thundercracker up by his shoulders with strength the elder flier didn't know he possessed.

"How can you be awake at a time like this?" Thundercracker groaned, rising to a seated position against his own will. "It's 8 a.m., and I'd like some more sleep if you wouldn't mind…" he mumbled, trying to drag the covers over his face plates once more. Skywarp was having none of it.

"But it's Christmas!" The purple mess whined. "We should be singing songs, gifting presents, having snowball fights and all of the fun stuff! Right? Right!? This was your idea, you can't have just gone up and forgot now!" For a moment, Thundercracker simply stood dazed, his processor lagging a little bit, until he finally caught up to what Skywarp had said. He still didn't completely agree, though he was smart enough to know that complying with his demands would just be easier for everyone.

"Alright, hold your horses…"

"My what?" Skywarp frowned. Thundercracker mumbled something under his breath, but swatted Skywarp's servos away with one of his own, slowly getting up to a sitting position. To his surprise, it was actually snowing outside (which he'd learnt to be a very lucky coincidence), though he reminded himself that Skywarp and painful projectiles did make a friendly combination. More than anything, Thundercracker was anxious to see how well Soundwave had managed to sort everything out. It wouldn't do to be blamed for something he hadn't even been responsible for, so he'd made sure that Skywarp would tattle tale the moment anything of fault arose.

"It's pretty…" Starscream remarked to no one in particular, admiring the scenery through a small, now chilled window. Trees, grass and rocks alike had all been covered in a fluffy white blanket, and a few puddles had been frozen into such a shiny state, Starscream could see a fraction of his own reflection in one of them. It was a shame Starscream was torn away from this view to go along with his trine, Skywarp rushing all the way down the corridor only to come running back again, and bounce on the spot in hopes the other two seekers realised that he wanted them to go faster. It seemed that they got the wrong end of the stick, and ended up walking _slower _than usual.

* * *

"Wow." As it turned out, Soundwave had done a much better job of decorating the place than Thundercracker could have hoped to do (as Starscream politely pointed out to him several times). You couldn't move your optics a metre without catching a piece of tinsel or a bauble in your field of view. Golds, silvers, greens and reds all blended into one giant burst of colour, making the few patches of grey, unaltered metal almost invisible. At the very front of the hall, stood an obnoxiously tall tree, with an excessive amount of decorations on it. And of course, as the arrogant cherry on top, a small model of Megatron himself rested at the peak of the tree rather than a star or an angel (though the commander probably thought of himself as both anyway).

Ignoring Skywarp's suggestion of a 'friendly prank' by replacing the model with a similar one of Optimus Prime, the three seekers walked into the hall before going their own separate ways. Starscream dashed back to their quarters to retrieve something he'd forgotten, Skywarp attempted to pilfer seemingly unguarded gifts scattered around the place for himself, and Thundercracker went to strike up a conversation with Soundwave. Not that he would find much fun in doing so, but he seemed to be the only sober mech around.

Soundwave didn't even acknowledge his approach, but remained still and silent, scanning the crowd for something. The blue seeker jostled his shoulder a little to gain his attention, but then forgot what he wanted to say.

"Uhh, nice weather we're having." He improvised, making a small gesture to the outdoors.

"Cold Temperatures – Undesirable." Soundwave informed him.

"Well yeah, but it looks kinda nice."

"Aesthetics of weather – irrelevant to function of weather." Thundercracker subtly glowered at the monotone mech, now remembering why he didn't do this very often. Even the constructicons offered better small talk than this.

"Megatron – inquired whether I had feelings for Starscream" Soundwave decided to blurt out, giving Thundercracker an incredulous look as if he already knew it was his blunder.

"And do you?" The blue flier asked, not turning to face Soundwave as his smirk would reveal what he knew. He still had to cough to interrupt a small chuckle from escaping his vocaliser.

"Answer – already obvious." Soundwave said, a hint of disgust present in that monotone of his. Of course, Soundwave absolutely _hated _Starscream, but that didn't mean Thundercracker couldn't poke fun at him a little. It was always amusing when Megatron put the two of them together, you could never quite predict what would happen.

"Yeah, well sorry about that. We somehow accidentally put that idea into his head." Neither of them said anything, but both simultaneously turned their heads to see Skywarp chased by a mob so overcharged, the mechs involved couldn't catch themselves falling down. To Thundercracker's dismay (and possibly Soundwave's joy), Skywarp ended up getting nicked on the pede by one of them, and fell flat on his face, looking less than confident at the blood thirsty looks he was on the receiving end of.

"I'd better get that." Thundercracker sighed, jogging along unenthusiastically. Soundwave stared after him in bewilderment.

* * *

Starscream shuffled into the hall, feeling extremely awkward. True, he was feeling a little rattled because of what he was about to do, but it was more because what he was carrying was very, _very _heavy. Instead of long, confident strides, he more waddled in like a penguin, struggling to keep balance over the large weight that dragged him towards the floor. How Megatron would be able to carry this thing on his arm all day, every day, he had no idea.

Having made it far enough, Starscream swivelled round in a circle (or more, shuffled), optics trying to find someone. Just as he was about to sit down and take a long needed rest, something smacked straight into him from behind, sending him and the box he was holding sprawling into a nearby table. Though he managed to protect the box itself from harm, Starscream himself was not so lucky. Whatever it was that'd hit him, it'd done a good job, Starscream hissing in pain at the damage his left arm had received. If he'd thought lifting heavy weight was difficult before, this would be a whole new challenge.

Megatron was, for his part, very confused at what had happened. The warlord had been walking merrily along, about to get his fifth (or was it his sixth?) cube of high grade, when something had just pushed itself in front of him. Megatron being Megatron, had decided to push back, albeit a little harder than he had meant to. He now gave Starscream a blank look, which was returned once Starscream's initial glare subsided.

Megatron opened his mouth to say something, but the high grade energon got there before him, causing his slight swaying to turn into a powerful lean. Starscream ended up knocked off his pedes for a second time that cycle. As he came to, embarrassment washed over the pain of being crushed against the table when his optics met Megatron's, who was currently leaning on him and meeting his gaze with a certain curiosity. For a moment, Starscream heard nothing except his own rapid intakes from having his breaths cut off.

"Get off me!" He suddenly wheezed, desperately attempting to push the larger mech off when his processor started to feel fuzzy. It was no use though, the tyrant was impossibly heavy. It took Megatron a few seconds to comprehend what had been said, before he pushed himself off the now gasping seeker.

"Uhhhhhh, sh-sorry about thaaat." Megatron chuckled, finding difficulty in pronouncing the simplest of words. And also staying upright. Starscream glowered for a few moments, infuriated by the simple, carefree expression Megatron held, despite having almost squashed him into scrap metal. It was NOT funny. He considered starting a shouting competition, but dropped the idea when he considered the repercussions. Judging by the fact that Megatron actually _apologised _for something, he was either scheming something that would end up harming Starscream, or was drunk off his aft. Probably the latter, considering how he barely kept his balance even now.

"You've sure drunk your fill." Starscream remarked, only getting angrier off of the smile Megatron offered him.

"More than thaaat" he replied, now able to talk a little better. His balance, however, still needed improvement. Megatron fell into a nearby chair, and either due to the faulty fourth leg or the chair, the speed he hit it at, or both, it shattered to pieces, leaving a very confused Decepticon commander sitting on his aft. No more than a few seconds later, he burst into laughter, rolling around in his own mess. Starscream stared.

"And he calls _me _a sparkling" he whispered to himself, wary that even if he was overcharged, Megatron could still get very angry very quickly. It would be best just to play this whole thing safe. After the last smirk left his lips, the gladiator took another seat, careful not to break this one. It winced a little at his weight, but fortunately stayed put.

As much as Starscream desperately wanted to leave this whole situation and forget about it, he couldn't. Shuffling his pedes together under the table, he shoved the large box towards Megatron, who looked at it. It was as if he expected a jack in the box to pop out, because for a while he did nothing but ogle it.

"It doesn't bite" the seeker told him, actually a little amused at this sudden change in behaviour. Pop a few cubes of high grade into his system, and Megatron became a completely different mech. It almost seemed as though he could be happy at some points, though Starscream wouldn't go that far. Megatron and that word just didn't mix.

"Iss… Is it for me?" He asked, speech heavily slurred. Starscream nodded his head, still watching out of interest to see what happened next.

"Can I eat it?"

"What? No, you can't eat it!"

"But you said it was mine" Megatron whined, staring longingly at the box as if it were the best cube of energon to be made.

"You can eat it tomorrow." Starscream said, pushing his gift out of reach. Giving him a gun at this point would not be the best idea in the world. Starscream had done what he came here to do. There was no point in staying any longer. He hated parties, mostly because there was no decent conversation to be had, or decent anything. Just mechs drinking high grade for the sake of it. Although he hadn't told anyone, Starscream technically was a little under the drinking age. No one knew since he looked much older than he really was, and the seeker wasn't one for spilling secrets. Of course, something so derogatory as an age limit wouldn't hold him back should he want to drink any, but the whole idea of acting foolish and spilling important information accidentally was not his cup of tea.

Just as he was about to get up and leave, Starscream felt a powerful servo yank him back down to his seat. The shock left him stunned for a moment. He glanced over at Megatron, who was eyeing him carefully, with a look he took to mean 'sit'. Like he had a choice in the matter.

"You know, weeee don't talk m-much" Megatron told him, his grip only getting tighter.

"There's a reason for that." Starscream spat, voice dripping with acidity. If he had to talk to him at all, he would rather Megatron be sober, and not have a death grip on his arm. Which was actually starting to hurt.

"We used to talk alllllll the time." The commander beamed. "You know, before you started trying… you know, to kill me and stuff." Starscream averted his gaze to the floor, pretending not to have heard. Megatron continued on anyway.

"It's annoying, did you know? Liiiike, you're not much good at it… You're really bad at it. I meannnn, I'm still alive. It would be a lot easier if you stopped, but you're tooooo stubborn. I would kill you, you know… But you're good at your job, so it's not worth it." Starscream stopped deathly still.

"What?"

"I said stop trying to kill me."

"No, no, the other bit. What did you say afterwards?" Megatron sat deep in thought, holding a hand up to his chin as if to illustrate this. After a few seconds, he just shrugged. Starscream scowled at his appalling memory, or choice to simply devoid him of information.

"Maybe I wouldn't try to kill you if you listened to me once in a while!" The seeker shouted. Megatron winced at the high pitch of his tone, the high grade flowing around his systems not helping either.

"Would you do the same if you had all the power?" Starscream didn't answer that question. From the obnoxiously loud laugh Megatron let out, he gathered the commander knew the answer anyway.

"If you hate me so much, I don't get why you don't just kill me off anyway…" Starscream mumbled, hoping to keep the thought to himself. Apparently he'd spoken a little too loud.

"I don't _hate _you." Megatron said, suddenly sounding a lot more in control of himself. Starscream would have grown suspicious, if he couldn't smell the overwhelming stench of energon in his breath. "But when you argue with me **every, single, time, **I have to be strict. If you were a good boy", he grinned, patting Starscream on the head for emphasis, "Then I could be nicer." Looking optic to optic, Starscream wondered why this sounded so loudly in his mind. Megatron was horrible. Everyone hated him. Well, Starscream technically didn't, but he was still always so mean to him for no reason. He already acted nicer around him than anyone else, and he still didn't notice, still didn't care, still beat him for it. What did he want, for the seeker to just forget his own ideas, pretend that Megatron was smarter than him? Well he wasn't, but still, the idea was tempting…

One week. Starscream would be 'nice' for one week, and no more. He dearly hoped his hunch was right on this one, otherwise all this aft-kissing would just be used as blackmail later. A Megatron with blackmail was a very dangerous creature indeed.

He was brought back to his senses by the loud snores next to him, and turned to see a passed out mech slumped across the whole table, taking up as much space as physically possible with two outstretched arms. Everyone seemed to have either headed off to sleep, or had simply not bothered and slept on the floor. Careful not to wake him, Starscream pushed the wrapped and thankfully uneaten Fusion Cannon back towards Megatron, who instinctively wrapped an arm around it and brought the object close to his helm. For a while, Starscream returned to his seat and just stared at the mech. Megatron, the ruthless commander that struck down all enemies with not even a hint of mercy. Megatron, who ruled over an extensive Decepticon army with an iron fist. Megatron, the mech who slept like a sparkling and whom Starscream secretly adored. Thinking that he wouldn't have a chance like this again, Starscream stared for a while longer, letting out small sighs and swiftly retracting his servo when it seemed to sneak up on Megatron and be moments away from touching him.

Quickly sub spacing a datapad, Starscream hastily scribbled down a chunk of text, and laid it down on the table. After that much energon, the seeker doubted Megatron could even remember his own name in the morning. He took one last look at Megatron, before turning away and trudging towards his own quarters for some strongly needed recharge. It wasn't anywhere near night time, but he already felt exhausted.

It had been a very strange Christmas.

* * *

**Sorry for the lack of snowball fights. Also, if you don't like all things cheesy, the next chapter will probably not be for you ;)**

(Just kidding...

**kind of)**


	7. An Unexpected Proposition!

**A/N: Hi, Hello, Hey. I think this one came out pretty good, though it was probably more towards the end that I enjoyed writing it. So I was reading some other stories and people were talking about "Beta Readers" or something. I wonder what one of those it o.O**

**Enjoy the chapter! **

* * *

His processor ached. His frame felt limp, and at first refused to get up, just sprawling all over the floor when he attempted to lift himself from the chair.

"Stupid thing…" Megatron muttered to himself, propping one powerful servo onto the nearby table to hoist himself back up. Once his view finally stopped shaking to and fro, his optics revealed two objects that immediately came to his attention. He stuck himself in thought briefly, processor still not working at full speed. Eventually opting for the datapad, he reached out to grab it, took a seat and began reading. He was immediately unimpressed when whoever had written the note chose to put his title, "Lord" in quotation marks, as if to suggest sarcasm. He could already guess the author.

_'__Dear "Lord" Megatron, _

_As you may be aware, you have consumed a fair amount of high grade energon. I assume I don't need to explain the after effects of over consumption to you, since you are quite the veteran in that field'_

Already Megatron's servos had to clench and unclench themselves to avoid the datapad being smashed to pieces. The sneaky little glitch was going to get it when he'd finished.

_'__In case you were wondering, Soundwave will be taking your place for the foreseeable future, I would not be so low as to try and take my _rightful _position as leader whilst you are intoxicated.'_

The tryant would admit this actually relieved him. Whilst Starscream's attempts at usurping him were utterly hopeless, Megatron was in no mind to deal with them right now.

_'__Also, the box you see sitting next to you is in fact, for you (Merry Christmas). You tried to eat it earlier, please don't try again. I'm not an expert on cardboard, but it looks undercooked to me.'_

The commander physically face palmed. Why he drank high grade, he did not know.

_'__Please do not shoot me with the fusion cannon. Unlike your aim, I can assure you it's firepower is nowhere near lousy. Though I still wouldn't recommend it, test it on some constructicons or something. _

_I'd also like to take this opportunity to inform you that due to your new toy, we are now running low on various scientific equipment needed to make weapons. If you would grant me permission, I could happily go out and purchase these for you. _

_Good luck waking up, _

_Starscream, your trustworthy subordinate'_

Although itching to now open the box to see whether this datapad had been telling the truth or not, a couple of things he hadn't noticed at first caught Megatron's optic. Firstly, there seemed to be a small message scrawled across the bottom. Upon close inspection, it read _'Skywarp was here, Thundercracker is a loser'. _Without meaning to, the gladiator scoffed at this. The second and more interesting development was an image that Starscream inscribed after his name. There were two dots, and below that an arc that peaked at either end. It almost looked like smiling faceplates without the outline of a helm. Why he would have drawn such a thing, Megatron did not know. Storing this information away for pondering later, the silver mech reached for the lid of the box. His red optics instantly lit up at the sight of what was inside.

It looked **fun**.

* * *

"Ehhhh, that's all that happened?" Skywarp began whinging and whining once again as he was disappointed by Starscream's lack of initiative on the situation.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Starscream retorted, more confused than anything.

"Well, you know…" Skywarp made a gesture giggling to himself at his trinemate's outraged expression.

"Why on Cybertron would we do that!?" Starscream realised he'd accidentally stood up in the heat of the moment, startling the purple seeker. He sighed, returning to a seating position once more. "You're crazy Skywarp, you know that?" He smiled at him.

"It's what I do best!" The flier beamed at Starscream, before a frown crept up on him like a snake. Something seemed ever so off about Skywarp right now. "Do you know where Thundercracker went? I've been looking for him all day, but the guy is just invisible…" He trailed off.

"I think he said he went looking for Soundwave for some reason. He should be back this afternoon." Skywarp didn't say anything, but it was clear that he was disappointed to say the least. Every time someone suggested it, Skywarp would get overly defensive, but the purple seeker was clearly dependent on Thundercracker. As a trine should be, though Skywarp perhaps a little more so. It wasn't the way Starscream liked to do things. If he only relied on himself, then no mistakes could be made. It was easier that way, or he had convinced himself so at the very least.

That train of though was interrupted by a loud ring reverberating in Starscream's audios. He almost jumped out of his frame. Skywarp looked up as if to say something, but his trinemate silenced him by bringing a digit towards his lips.

"This'd better be good…" Starscream mumbled to whoever was on the other line, not in the best of moods anymore.

"Did you say something?" A deep voice rumbled in response, not sounding too happy either.

"Oh, decided to wake up in the end?" Though he would never dare to do it in person, Starscream liked to utilise his wit whenever him and Megatron were distanced from each other in any way. It gave him some small sense of power in the relationship, if only a little. He received an angry grunt in response.

"Well, what can I do you for today?" Starscream said with unconvincing apathy. For some odd reason, no matter how much he told his systems to calm down, his spark insisted on beating a little faster and heavier than usual.

"I need to see you in my quarters about something." Starscream felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Wh-why can't you just tell me now?" The seeker asked anxiously. Skywarp seemed to enjoy his slight tremblings, bouncing up and down in front of his optics.

"Because I said so." The warlord replied, as if it should have been obvious. "Be here soon, you wouldn't like me getting impatient now, would you?" There was a slight fizz of static as the comm was ended, leaving a very nervous Starscream and a strangely excited Skywarp.

"So that was Megatron…"

* * *

Thundercracker walked through the dimly lit corridor hesitantly, each step lagging behind. He'd chosen to take matters into his own hands for Starscream's affair, for once acting without Skywarp. Although the two seekers had initially agreed that they'd do the whole thing together, Thundercracker needed to be alone for this one. Skywarp wouldn't have the sense to go about this in the right way.

The blue seeker reached the door. Green like all of the others, a gold pair of numbers in the centre. In. Out. In. Out. Thundercracker practiced taking a few breaths before knocking on the door. He heard muffled footsteps get closer and closer, before a familiar visor appeared level with his optics.

"Greetings, Soundwave. How are you today?"

"Soundwave: good. Thundercracker: Also seems well."

"Yeah, I guess so. You busy? I'd like to discuss something with you." Soundwave travelled around his own processor, trying to see if there was something he could pretend to be doing to shake Thundercracker off. There wasn't, so he let the flier into his quarters.

Datapads. There were lots of them, Thundercracker discovered. They were practically all that the navy blue mech seemed to own, save his own computer and a few suspicious objects that the seeker didn't want to find out about. Instead of taking a seat, he walked to the other end of the room, allowing a small space to make itself known in between him and Soundwave.

"Thundercracker: State reason for entry." Soundwave requested of him. In all honesty, Thundercracker wasn't feeling too sure of himself, but it was still the right action to take. At the very least, he needed to find out if Soundwave would help or hinder Starscream's desires. It'd be impossible to keep sneaking around with Soundwave sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted.

"Well, I was just walking about and all, and a thought came to me. I've been serving under the Decepticon cause for a while now, yet I know very little about its leader." Soundwave studied the seeker carefully, not used to this kind of behaviour from him. He assumed he wouldn't like where this conversation was headed.

"Could you tell me a little about our mighty Megatron?" Thundercracker twitched as Soundwave just stared intently at him. Did he not even need his powers to know his thinking right now? Maybe it'd be best if he just left now.

"Thundercracker: requests what kind of information?" Soundwave asked. He'd have to take the step, it was now or never. He'd need the two Decepticons to quicken the pace to their friendship if anything were to really happen. Maybe he could sneak it in somewhere?

"The usual things." Thundercracker said quickly. "What he likes, what he does, whether he's looking for a bondmate, what's his favourite colour-"

"A bondmate?" Soundwave repeated.

"Oh, well now you bring _that _up" Thundercracker said in a nonchalant sort of way (or at least he hoped it appeared that way), "Say that he was indeed looking for one… What kind of characteristics do you think he'd be looking for?" The seeker looked up hopefully, but then felt his spark skip a beat as he saw the familiar glint of a visor. How long had that been going on? How far had Soundwave gone into his mind?

Both mechs froze.

Soundwave tried to dash out of the room, but Thundercracker jumped him as the navy mech reached for the door. He groaned as the blue seeker took up a suitable position on top of him, so as to restrict any movement.

"Starscream: In no way a suitable mech for the likes of Megatron!" Soundwave roared, as he now could no longer control his emotions, his monotone vanished into thin air.

"Just calm down, will you?" Thundercracker moaned, struggling to keep Soundwave from moving. "No one's saying he will be, but at least let us _try _and put the two together? Okay? Please?"

"No!" Soundwave shouted back, desperately struggling under Thundercracker's hold, which continued to loosen. If Soundwave got out and managed to tell Megatron now, then… then…! Thundercracker didn't want to think what would happen.

"I'll do anything you want if you keep this quiet, anything! Just don't tell Megatron, okay?" The struggling stopped. Slowly, Thundercracker allowed the monotone mech to rise to his pedes. Soundwave brushed some dust off of his frame as if nothing had even happened.

"Anything?" Soundwave queried. The seeker was regretting this already.

"Within reason…" He whimpered, not a fan of the look he was on the receiving end of. Soundwave closed the distance between their two helms, and whispered something in the flier's audios.

"That's it?" Thundercracker raised an optic ridge, expecting something a little more… substantial. Soundwave nodded in approval.

"That's it."

* * *

His heels clacked on the floor in a quivering rhythm, failing to keep any sort of consistent pace. His air vents cycled rapidly, pushing air out as if it were poison to the frame, then drawing it in like a life line. His processor jolted about like a Skywarp, finding question upon question, yet no answers to any of them.

All in all, you could say Starscream was a little nervous.

Getting closer to his leader's quarters, the seeker continued to question himself about his ambiguous request to see him directly about… Whatever this was.

"Something I have to be physically present for… What could that be?" The air commander asked himself. Punishment, perhaps? Then again, he didn't know of anything he'd done wrong (for once), and Megatron hadn't sounded any angrier than his usual, bitter self. A particularly dirty thought made its way into his processor, and he dismissed it just as quickly as it had arisen.

"No way, no way… Now is _not _the time to be thinking like that!" He scolded himself, giving himself a quick smack on the faceplates. It wouldn't be ridden of that easily though. Despite his best efforts, his mind couldn't help but wander into alternate situations. Maybe his wing would accidentally be brushed past by Megatron's servo, they'd lock optics with each other and-

He knocked on the door. Starscream would have to be very careful, but it was nothing that he hadn't handled before. Starscream was the master of his own emotions. He could manipulate other mechs to practically fall before his knees, make them carry out his every desire without even realising what they were doing. Starscream was prepared for this.

The door opened. Megatron glanced down at his second, and the seeker in turn made an involuntary little squeak. He was not prepared at all. In fact, the problem had only gotten worse, as Starscream had to sneak past the larger mech's bulk in order to avoid looking at him.

"You- you wanted to see me?" He asked, helm still focusing intently on something, anything that wasn't Megatron. The ground pounder stared after him for a while, finding his behaviour somewhat amusing. Was he really that scared of him?

"Well I didn't _want _to see you, but it was necessary." He chuckled, making sure that Starscream heard the cruelty in his voice. The seeker didn't turn, but it was clear from his body language that he was annoyed. He almost looked saddened, pristine wings drooping slightly, servos limp and by his sides. Megatron found the sight endearing to look at.

"As you made clear, we are running out of supplies, due to this lovely device here that you made me." Starscream turned slightly to see Megatron waving the fusion cannon around on his arm, grinning at Starscream with anticipation. "It works very well, by the way." He leered. "Want to see?" Starscream grimaced at how eagerly the gladiator wanted to fire it at something.

"No thanks, I've already seen it in action." He mumbled, feigning a smile to mask his growing sense of fear. The seeker could only guess at who the intended target would be.

"Anyway," The warlord continued, edging a little closer to the seeker without him noticing, "I'm fully aware that you are probably the only mech who actually knows what to look for." The warlord eyed Starscream carefully, who was merely shuffling his digits together awkwardly, mumbling something under his breath. "In any case, I'd like to ask you go out and retrieve these items." Starscream let out a sigh of relief. That was all he had to do, just go out and buy a couple of things. He almost laughed out loud, he'd gotten himself worked up about something so trivial. He bowed lightly to his commander, before attempting to escape. He almost ran into Megatron on the way out as he moved swiftly to block the seeker's path.

"I'm not finished yet." He growled through gritted dentas. Starscream instinctively took a few steps back, before glancing up at Megatron expectantly. The silver mech huffed in annoyance before speaking again. "Since you are not a trustworthy character-"

"Says who?" Starscream shrieked, outraged at the suggestion.

"Says everyone to have ever existed ever." Megatron informed him. Starscream made a small moaning noise, seeing where this might be headed. The Decepticon commander only found it adorable coming from the smaller seeker. "It is for that reason, that I will have someone who I _can _trust to accompany you." Starscream's processor whirred into action, thinking which mechs would fall into that category. Presumably one suck up or another that would never even dream of stepping a toe out of line. Starscream presumed he wouldn't get along with said mech.

"Since I'm feeling particularly generous today", Megatron enlightened the seeker, "I'll let you choose who you want to go with." He smiled deviously at Starscream, who did not return the look.

"Me, or Soundwave."

"There aren't any other choices?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll be good, I swear!"

"That sort of behaviour has yet to be seen from you." Starscream scowled at his leader, who didn't look at all fazed by his discomfort. What could he possibly hope to achieve by sneaking out only a few miles away? Megatron was just deliberately being cruel to him, and he knew it. He'd simply have to prevent the gladiator from taking any further action against him.

"Then I guess… I'll go with Soundwave." Starscream sighed in defeat. He wasn't looking forward to it, but maybe this way there would be a lesser chance of any shenanigans occurring. He didn't trust himself to remain impartial should he spend such a long period of time alone with Megatron.

Megatron, however, frowned at this decision. The whole reason he had invited Starscream was because he had assumed it would save time on the matter once he had chosen him over Soundwave. Apparently though, he'd somehow managed to build up an even _worse_ relationship with the seeker than Soundwave had. And those two really, really hated each other.

Regardless of what everyone else may have thought, Megatron didn't hate Starscream. Yes, the seeker could get very annoying at times, and yes, he did take it upon himself to argue with Megatron's every word, when no one had instructed him to do so. Whilst he did have his flaws, the seeker was also useful in his own little ways. His scientific knowledge kept weapons modern and technology up to date, he was good at keeping many of the other Decepticons in line, and had a flying ability that no other seeker was able to match. There was another reason that Megatron had chosen Starscream, but he didn't like to think about it much. He never understood that feeling anyway, and had drowned it out the moment it had appeared.

All in all, quite the perfect candidate for second in command. It was a shame, in that sense, that Megatron had to discipline the seeker so often. It had started out as a simple glare or scolding every once in a while, but Starscream just seemed unable to get the message. It was then that he'd had to resort to violence. By now, he was well used to the seeker's pleas as he tore the wings that clung to his back within an inch of their life, squeezed servos until they were thoroughly crushed. After finding out how quickly he could correct his ways, it was only natural that Megatron would start to use these methods on the rest of his underlings.

But he didn't do it that often. He gave the seeker everything he needed. He offered him more responsibility than any other mech. He was even so incredibly lenient by not even demoting the little glitch when he actually tried to offline him.

So why did the seeker hate him so much?

"Fine, fine. I'll call up Soundwave." The tyrant grumbled, forgetting to hide his disappointment. Starscream raised an optic ridge at his reaction, but didn't dare speak out.

"You called, My lord?" Soundwave asked, voice betraying nothing.

"I need you to escort Starscream somewhere in my place." Megatron instructed the navy mech. Unbeknownst to him, Thundercracker was scribbling something down on a datapad and then showing Soundwave, who nodded in understanding.

"Soundwave: too busy."

"What could you possibly be doing?" Megatron seethed. Starscream started to feel slightly uncomfortable, but stayed put nonetheless.

"Soundwave: busy with important things." He lied.

"WELL THEN YOU'D BETTER-" And the link was cut off. For a moment, Megatron just stood there, not quite comprehending what happened. He looked for someone to blame, as he usually did when something went wrong. And he found the usual seeker, greeting him with a smirk.

"Sorry, Soundwave is busy right now. I guess that leaves you with me, doesn't it?" Starscream didn't move, even as the silver, taller mech bent down to press his optics near to Starscream's.

"No…" He whispered.

"You can walk, or I can carry you. Which would you prefer?" He spat in Starscream's direction. The seeker thought about how he longed for the second option, to curl up and rest against his helm against Megatron's warm armour… Starscream mentally slapped himself, before pacing ahead of his leader, making small whining noises as he went. Megatron followed after him shortly, for some reason not able to avert his gaze from the seeker for some odd reason.

He looked ever so slightly cute when he was upset.

* * *

**I don't like leaving you guise with a cliff hanger-esque ending, so I'll try and write the next chapter ASAP. Don't forget to review and all those things that people do!**

**What did Soundwave say to Thundercracker? How will Starscream keep his act together around Megatron? And where on Cybertron has Skywarp wondered off to? **


	8. Getting More than you Paid for!

**A/N: Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews, it really gets me motivated, you know? I appreciate all of them! Off topic, I've started watching the new Sword Art Online II, and it looks more promising than the first right now. We'll see how it progresses.**

**Also, this chapter is a little longer than normal, but you can always take a break and come back later if it's too much. **

**As always, read, review and enjoy! **

* * *

"This is ridiculous." Megatron mumbled to no one in particular, deliberately stomping the ground out of anger, the pavement now filled with many small craters from the force he stuck it at. Starscream's walk had developed into a small jog to keep up with the ill-tempered mech, and he had started huffing at their current pace. They would arrive where they wanted at the same time, whatever pace they went, so why did Megatron insist on speeding ahead?

"I asked if you wanted to fly there…" Starscream kindly reminded the tyrant, trying his hardest to remove his foul mood. It wouldn't do well for business if he had an oversized sparkling stomping and causing havoc everywhere he went. "If you really think about it, there's no need for you to be scared of heights."

"I am not _scared _of anything!" Megatron snarled back, his pace unrelenting. "I just have a rational wariness of their dangers." He lied. Starscream gave him an incredulous look that the gladiator fortunately didn't see, but decided not to pester him with this topic. He was already angry enough right now.

The streets ahead of them were packed with mechs, their individual colours blurring into each other from the speed they bustled about. Starscream could already feel the spaces around him and Megatron slowly close up. As for most seekers, Starscream didn't like being confined to small spaces. He could already feel his wings twitch with anxiousness, his processor clouding over. He was about to turn on his thrusters and shoot up to merely get some breathing room, before a large servo clamped over his own, starting to drag him towards the mass of colour.

"Megatron, we're not going to be able to get through, there's too many-" Megatron paid his advice no heed, and Starscream's mouth made a small "O" shape as he watched the warlord literally slam other mechs to the floor that blocked his path. Starscream glanced back to see some of them begin to pick themselves up and try to start some sort of fight, though a wave of mech's had already covered them from view. At first, Starscream had to jump and bounce away from other pedes threatening to intercept his steps, but once everyone seemed to get the message, a small path cleared itself for the pair. The seeker glanced awkwardly at some of the passers-by, smiling weakly in apology to a few of them.

Before the poor mech handling the ticket station could even look up (they had decided to go by train when flying had been ruled out as an option), Megatron shoved two small pieces of paper into his hands, almost knocking the poor thing over, and dragged Starscream past. Not bothering to calm down first, the disgruntled gladiator threw both him and the seeker down onto a nearby bench, finally relenting his grip on Starscream's servo. The air commander let out a sigh of relief, Megatron had not exactly been gentle with it. Upon closer examination, the damage wasn't too bad. Assuring himself that he was well taken care of, Starscream glanced up at Megatron, who's wrath seemed to have lessened from earlier. He still seemed rather annoyed though, tapping his pede impatiently.

"Hey." Starscream poked Megatron in the arm, albeit a little hesitantly. He didn't receive any sort of response, and so opted to poke a second time. "Was that really necessary?" The seeker asked his commander gently, careful not to provoke him in any way. Starscream waited patiently, and after the third poke, drew out a sigh from the ground pounder.

"I… could have possibly dealt with the situation more efficiently." Megatron conceded. It wasn't really much of an apology, or much of anything, but Starscream would take it. It was more than he'd gotten out of the tyrant before. The seeker in smiled in victory for a moment, allowing himself to cherish the small period of peace, before striking up conversation again.

"It's one thing to act like that around the base, but you can't do that sort of thing in public." Starscream scolded him. If you could call it scolding, he sounded more like the victim of the situation with the quiver in his voice. Megatron looked up from his sulking to stare at Starscream, not really understanding the problem.

"Why not?"

"It's rude. What will other mechs think?"

"You act like I care what they think."

"You should do." Still on the receiving end of an inquisitive look, Starscream realised he wasn't going to understand. Further explanation would be needed, apparently.

"I'm not saying you need to need to make friends with them" he added, "but you have a pretty large political status." The seeker inwardly flinched at the smirk on Megatron's faceplates at the boost to his ego. That was the very _last _thing he needed. "It's therefore important that you play the part of a reputable character. No cursing, no death threats, no violence, nothing." Megatron huffed at having the three things he valued dearly in his life being taken away from him. He did recognise the point that Starscream raised, but whether he could restrain these characteristics, he was not exactly sure. After all, sometimes even in the comfort of his own base, he would lash out at mechs without meaning too. It just came as second nature sometimes to remove the cause of the problem.

"That's asking a lot." Megatron growled back in response. Starscream only grinned at this.

"Of course, I'll be subject to the same conditions, for the time being…" He reminded the commander, hoping it would help persuade him. Megatron seemed to enjoy this idea a little more than Starscream had hoped.

"So you won't be sarcastic, whining and sparkling-like?" He mused, prodding the seeker with one of his digits after each adjective.

"Witty, important sounding and mature." Starscream corrected the larger mech, too offended to push his fingers away. After Megatron thought it was a good idea to continue poking him, he eventually batted the servo away, which meant he briefly caught Megatron's optics.

"S-stop staring at me like that." He mumbled, turning away a small bit. Instead of obeying the request, the gladiator only took more notice of him, raising an optic ridge at the strange behaviour.

"When does the train arrive?" He asked, dropping the gaze. Starscream fiddled around with a datapad for a short while before replying.

"About ten minutes."

"**_Ten minutes?_**" A loud voice struck Starscream's audios like a mallet. The seeker instantly held a digit to his tightened lips, which Megatron took to mean 'be quiet'. He let out a large sigh, folded his arms and glared at the tracks, as if it would make the train arrive quicker.

It didn't. It took twenty minutes in total.

* * *

He popped his head out from around the corner. There was no one there. Grinning mischievously to himself, Skywarp bounced along the corridor excitedly, making his way further and deeper into the base. To his joy, not only were Megatron and Starscream out doing their own thing, but Thundercracker and Soundwave had gone out too! They'd said that they were going to buy something for Starscream to wear, but what exactly it was, Skywarp wasn't allowed to know. The purple seeker had found this extremely unfair that gossip was to be had and yet was prevented from reaching him, but had it let it slide to hurry the two mechs out of the base. Having the place all to himself (sort of) meant he could go wherever he wanted!

Smiling once more at his freedom, he made his way into the forbidden realms, the place only one mech on the entire planet was supposed to enter; Megatron's quarters.

Skywarp's mouth left itself agape for a good few minutes. First of all, the place was quite large. In fact, it was enormous. Were it not actually residing within it, Skywarp would have bet it was bigger than the entire base. Most of it of course, was probably work related (as to be expected by a ruler-to-be of the entire galaxy), but it still had plenty of luxuries that the purple seeker wouldn't mind waking up to in the morning.

Skywarp being the polite mech that he was…

…

The seeker scoffed at the very idea of politeness. Skywarp, being the _nosy _mech that he was, took it upon himself to venture around the gladiator's place as if it were his own. After all, when else would he get the opportunity to do this, what with all the other 'mature' mechs breathing down his neck?

Shuffling through a few datapads, he eventually found one titled "To do list". His optics roughly scanned the list, eventually finding a bullet point entitled: Discipline Skywarp.

"Well, he could do without this one. I'll just lighten his load a little, like the helpful mech I am." Skywarp murmured to himself. Satisfied that he would not be undergoing any negative activity in the near future, he moved on. Not much else of interest was really about, but he did spot something rather peculiar sitting near the birth (Which as with everything else in the room, was obnoxiously large). He could make out some sort of photograph glowing faintly from a datapad, though from this distance he couldn't make out what it was of. Moving in for a closer inspection, the seeker gave it a good look.

It was quite old judging from the scuffs around the edges of the datapad, though there was no dust lingering on the surface. It must have been looked at quite often. Once the lighting had finally turned on, Skywarp could make out two mechs. The first, was Starscream, who was standing proudly at the front, smiling. The seeker couldn't quite tell why, but he looked a lot younger than normal, and a lot more innocent too. The other mech, considerably taller and older, was Megatron, who also seemed to be happy. He has two of his servos placed on both of Starscream's shoulders, gripping them firmly. Skywarp recognised this picture to be taken from the day of Starscream's promotion, as he remembered a particularly funny joke he'd told Thundercracker back then.

"I wonder why he keeps this here… That's nice of him." Skywarp whispered, not expecting anything Starscream related to be in the room at all. He stood for an awkwardly long amount of time, before remembering why he actually came here in the first place. Skywarp jumped up from his seat on the berth, bouncing quickly over to the private computer systems, and coincidently, the only one able to call the Autobot base. The purple mech bashed the call button in, humming along to the dialling tone.

"Optimus Prime is not here right now, if you wish to leave a message-" The mech on the other line stopped speaking suddenly, surprised to find something that wasn't Megatron's fearsome optics glaring down at him. Before saying anything else, he let out a sigh of relief; the Autobot didn't know how the Decepticons could work around someone so, for lack of a better word, scary.

"Skywarp?"

"What's up Bumblebee? How are things going?" Fortunately, Skywarp and Bumblebee were probably the only two mechs who seemed to remain completely oblivious to the fact there was a full scale war going on. Bumblebee just had so much fun annoying the other Autobots, that he didn't really notice anything else that was happening around him, and Skywarp just didn't consider it important enough to change his behaviour about. As long as he and his trine were unscathed, nothing really bothered him anyway.

"Things are good, I guess." The minibot scratched the back of his helm sheepishly, letting out a small laugh. "You know, if you don't count the whole 'on the verge of starving to death and stuff' thing."

"I can see how that would be a problem." Skywarp nodded in appreciation.

"Hey, hey, don't worry about it. Optimus allowed me a second helping of energon today, so I'm not too bothered" Bumblebee replied. The yellow mech laughed again, before returning to his caller.

"So what's up? You'd better spill it quick, you know Optimus doesn't like me talking with you guys. He says you're evil, all voodoo and that. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, we get it a lot." Skywarp sighed. "But hey, this will really blow your mind!" Bumblebee wasn't certain that the excited look Skywarp had was promising, but nodded on to show he was listening.

"Well I mean, I don't know any way to sugar coat it, so here goes." The purple seeker took a short breath, before leaning in closer to the monitor. "The truth is, Starscream totally has a crush on Megatron!" Bumblebee's optics widened in disbelief, he himself leaning towards the screen.

"What, _reeeaaalllly_? I mean, these are the two Decepticons I think we're talking about, right? Those two?" Bumblebee spoke impossibly fast, his processor simply not able to comprehend the idea. Didn't those two hate each other? He would always hear about the poor treatment the seeker received from the larger and more powerful mech. He felt sorry for the seeker, even though he probably deserved most of it, in the bumbler's opinion.

"I'm serious! The seeker is literally obsessed with him, you know?" Skywarp rambled on, clearly too excited for his own good. "I tried to point out that he could do better, but the guy wouldn't listen, just kept listing the stuff he liked about him. Maybe some mech's would find it annoying, but I thought it was sweet, really." Bumblebee stared and nodded, still wondering whether this information was true, before a thought started to nag his processor endlessly.

"If you don't mind me asking," The yellow mech mumbled, "Why are you telling me this? I mean sure, it's good to know, but this could be pretty damaging to your side if someone else where to find out." Bumblebee reminded the seeker. He then frowned at a pause Skywarp seemed to take, as if debating whether or not to ask something.

"Well, I was wondering… Since the situation is so delicate and all, we need some time off on all this fighting. Do you think you could…" Skywarp looked up hopefully at Bumblebee, who now twiddled his thumbs around and stared off somewhere to the left.

"I could try, but… I dunno if Optimus will be so keen on the idea."

"Maybe… Maybe if the two get together, we could get Screamer to persuade Megatron to conduct peace with you guys?"

"Do you think he could?" the minibot asked, genuinely intrigued.

"We could try." Bumblebee mumbled something quietly to himself, before nodding.

"I can see that working… And hey, wanna race when everything is sorted out?"

"Sure, you drive like a snail anyway."

"Yeah, well you fly like you've only got one wing!" The two mechs laughed at each other, before Skywarp decided to cut the call short. He sighed, leaning back in the desk chair, hoping that everything would go well. The seeker felt a slight tug of guilt that he hadn't gotten Thundercracker's permission to do this, but assured himself it was for the best. He could function just fine on his own, after all.

* * *

"Wow, look at it all!" Grumpily, Megatron tilted his helm upward to observe his surroundings, after Starscream's many pleas. It certainly was different from anywhere the Decepticon commander had been before. The area wasn't so busy that neither mech could see in front of themselves, but there certainly was a loud buzz in the air, full of different voices. Every inch of the place seemed to be either covered by merchandise or a customer of some sort. He'd only been here a few seconds, and Megatron already felt like killing something.

His sulking was interrupted, however, when a servo waved itself in front of his field of view.

"How long do you plan on standing there?" Starscream asked him, the seeker placing both hands on his hips and scrutinizing the other mech, trying to look down on him despite being quite a bit shorter. "You're going to have to pay more attention if you don't want me doing anything suspicious." Megatron considered arguing, but concluded he was too fed up to give any points worth making. He sighed, nodded, and allowed Starscream to lead the way for both of them. Curiously, the seeker seemed rather enthusiastic today, more so than usual. The gladiator observed how his wings were propped up higher than usual, and he almost bounced around like Skywarp would, rather than his usual arrogant saunter.

"Where to start, where to start…" The seeker mumbled to himself, not having actually gone outside the base for anything in a good while. He scanned the market for anything that he thought would be needed, deciding to go for what was closer first. "So we'll need materials for the base of the weapons, chemicals for the reactions, materials for the bullets…" The seeker made a mental checklist to himself, unaware that the mech he was now travelling with was beginning to get increasingly impatient.

Not having much else to do at the moment, Megatron decided to observe the air commander's behaviour. Sometimes, he would pick something up, toss and turn it in his servos a few times, before putting it back down with dissatisfaction. Other times, he'd throw something in the direction towards Megatron, who would be forced to catch whatever it was, adding to the already large pile of items that had accumulated in his broad arms. He didn't have a clue what any of them actually did.

"Hold this." Starscream suddenly requested, holding out a tube of metallic material that the gladiator didn't recognise.

"In case you hadn't noticed, my hands are full right now." He said with ample sarcasm, gesturing to the large pile of miscellaneous items he held. Starscream rolled his optics, and instead placed the material down, before smashing it with his servo (presumably to test its durability). To both Megatron's and Starscream's surprise, the metal broke very easily, snapping cleanly into two equally sized pieces. Starscream left his mouth agape, looking briefly to its remains, then to Megatron, and then back to the metal again. In one fluid motion, the seeker picked up the metal, dropped it and swiftly brushed it under a container with his pede before anyone could see what had happened.

"Better keep that a secret…" he whispered, taking up an awkward whistle and placing servos behind his back, walking away from the crime scene. Megatron followed close behind, smiling minutely at this amusing behaviour. Apparently, killing Autobots was fine, but Primus forbid if he accidentally break some metal not worth more than a few shanix.

Finally, they had finished. Megatron huffed out air in relief, not because the physical labour was at all above him, but because he was so incredibly _bored_, he felt his processor beginning to melt. Starscream seemed to eyeing the cashier carefully as he counted through everything, as if not trusting the mech. Megatron didn't blame him, the clerk's paintjob was so bright there he was bound to be a few screws loose.

"Five hundred shanix." He said.

"**_Five hundred!?_**" Starscream wasted no time in raising his voice, servo's clanging loudly on the desk. You want five hundred for some measly pieces of metal and easily obtainable chemicals?"

"If you d-don't like, don't buy it." He replied, attempting to sound firm but not really getting anywhere. Starscream gave him a thorough look up and down, taking in the other mech's nervousness, before shaking his helm.

"Four fifty." The seeker replied.

"The price isn't… isn't negotiable." The cashier informed him, to which Starscream simply scoffed.

"Fine, fine, we'll put this stuff back then. There are plenty of other places we can get the same stuff, right?" Starscream winked at the other mech, who suddenly seemed to be stuttering. As he turned away, he had to quickly hush an irritated Megatron, who still let out a soft whine at having to go around collecting everything a second time.

"Okay, f-four fifty." He relented. A hopeful look took up on his optics, but it vanished the moment Starscream leaned in close.

"Four hundred."

"What? But you said-"

"I know, but times change, don't they?" Starscream gave the most unnerving grin that any mech had ever laid eyes on. "You'd better decide quickly, it might go lower soon." After a few incoherent stuttering's more, the brightly coloured mech reluctantly took Starscream's money. Starscream smiled sweetly, before hauling everything up into a back, and leaving promptly with a half baffled, half impressed Megatron.

"Did you see, did you see? And you complained about it being expensive!" Starscream beamed, struggling to keep up with Megatron as he hauled all of their purchases along with him.

"It doesn't exactly count as being nice though, does it?" Megatron grumbled. Starscream considered this, and thought up a reasonable excuse.

"It shows that we don't take any nonsense though, which is just as important." Megatron rolled his optics, but then stopped as he noticed Starscream stagger a little.

"Problem?" He asked, ever so slightly amused.

"Why do I have to carry all of this?" The seeker whimpered. "It's so heavy, I don't get how you carried all of it around…"

"You use those wings of yours too much." Megatron informed him, giving one of them a slight pinch for emphasis. Starscream jolted a little at the sensation it gave him. "It'd do you good to get some real exercise for a change." After he'd said that though, Megatron doubted that this was the way to do it. The gladiator started to lag behind a little, wanting to be there in case-

A small rock on the ground had caused Starscream to take a short an unexpected trip, the seeker desperately clinging to the possessions as he fell backwards. He stopped, however, earlier than he'd expected to. Instead of the cold, unforgiving floor, his frame found something warmer, which seemed to wrap around his sides and under his arms as well. He looked up from his daze to find a few passers-by staring in his direction. The seeker looked up to find a mildly concerned Megatron return his gaze, now starting to let go of the seeker from the hug-like position he had previously held him in.

"Need some help carrying that?" He asked, looking like he enjoyed Starscream's discomfort. Faceplates red as a beetroot, Starscream slowly unloaded some of their merchandise onto Megatron, who for some reason found the whole thing very funny. That only went to embarrass the seeker further, who now kept a few paces ahead, murmuring a small thank you under his breath. Megatron continued to stare after him. He had probably learnt more about the seeker in the last few weeks than he had since he'd started as a Decepticon.

And to his surprise, he quite liked what he saw.

* * *

**Sorry, I just continue to find awkwardness between Starscream and Megatron absolutely adorable, so it keeps appearing (as you'll have noticed)!**

**Next time, we'll find out what Soundwave requested of Thundercracker, what it has to do with Starscream, and how that will affect the Decepticon Lord himself!**


End file.
